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Tag Archives: News

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Bob Woodward

31 Wednesday Mar 2021

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

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5 Quotes, Bob Woodward, Books, Fear, journalism, News, Rage, Veil, Washington Post, Watergate, wisdom

Photo credit: Jay Godwin – https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbjlibrarynow/25434828916/in/album-72157665395632165/

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I’ve been reading a lot of Bob Woodward’s works this year. I read both of his books on Trump, Fear and Rage. Now I am reading his book called Veil: The Secret Wars of the CIA, 1981-1987. These books were terrific. In honor of this writer, today’s 5 quotes are from him.

The central dilemma in journalism is that you don’t know what you don’t know.

Bob Woodward

When you see how the President makes political or policy decisions, you see who he is. The essence of the Presidency is decision-making.

Bob Woodward

Nixon’s grand mistake was his failure to understand that Americans are forgiving, and if he had admitted error early and apologized to the country, he would have escaped.

Bob Woodward

A reporter’s ability to keep the bond of confidentiality often enables him to learn the hidden or secret aspects of government.

Bob Woodward

I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us.

Bob Woodward

Bob Woodward is most famous for his work as a journalist with the Washington Post on the Watergate scandal during the Nixon Presidency. For more information, check out his Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woodward

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Watch What You Let In

05 Saturday Sep 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Spiritual Saturday

≈ 5 Comments

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Books, Movies, Negativity, News, Positivity, social media, Spiritual Saturday, spirituality, Video Games

I read an article a little while back and the article was about a spiritual leader who realized that the negativity in our lives is due to what we let in. He went on further to explain that negative books, movies, video games, music–anything that brought in any type of negativity would result in projecting that negativity in the world. 

Have you ever analyzed how you feel after you’ve watched an hour of the news? How about reading the news? How about watching news on YouTube? How about discussing a posted news article on Facebook? I’ll tell you how I felt. I felt like throwing my laptop through a window. 

Who wants to be bombarded by COVID, lives being ruined by riots, cities on fire, etc. Who wants to watch news reports of “non-violent” riots with buildings burning in the background?

I gave up the news months ago and already notice a huge difference in my stress levels. I’m just calmer. I still scan the news, but don’t watch it, don’t listen to it, and do not obsess over it. Yep, COVID is still around. Yep, the riots are still going on across the country. Yep, Biden and Trump are still at one another’s throats for the election. Not much has changed.

If you are stressed out or negative, take a look at what you are letting in.You may be impacted by what you read, watch, or listen to. Pay attention to how you treat other people. If you notice a change or realize people are being more negative toward you, this is the indicator. You see, the world reflects what is inside you. The more negativity you let in, the more negativity you broadcast. Conversely, the more positive you bring in, the more you broadcast positivity. 

Take a look at what you are bringing in. My simple act of reducing my news consumption has made a huge difference in my life. 

Have a great Saturday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Distractions

13 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

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Annoyances, Discipline, Distractions, Drama, Focus, Monday, motivation, News, Procrastination

Distractions. They cause us to fall off track. They’re so easy to get wound up in. Drama with family or friends. The bad news we are bombarded with every day. The Corona Virus. The list goes on and on.

I’m not against staying abreast of what’s happening in the world, but do caution you of getting too mired in it. Have you been to your social media feed yet? If it’s anything like mine, it’s nuts. Mind you, I reduced my list drastically and informed those that remained that I do not want to hear about anything political on my feed, regardless of political orientation. I want my social media feed on Facebook to be free of that stuff. I like baby pictures, pictures of my friends on trips, jokes, poetry, good music or videos on YouTube. That sort of thing. If I want bad news I can watch CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, ABC, CBS, or NBC. I don’t have to look hard.

Yes, there will be some things you cannot avoid being distracted by. Someone in your family gets hurt or sick, your car breaks down, or heaven forbid you get sick. There is a difference between annoying distractions and real ones.

For me, a real distraction is pain. When I was having back issues, I was in so much pain I couldn’t think. That was something I couldn’t do anything about. What I’m talking about in this post is the annoying, rabbit hole crap that helps you make excuses for not tackling the list of to-dos sitting right in front of you.

Stay focused on your goals. Even if it is only one little step each day to get you closer. Those little steps add up.

Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Going Within.

20 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Spiritual Saturday

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Calm, Chaos, Contemplation, going within, Meditation, News, Relax, Stress

The world just keeps getting crazier and crazier. This year has been a whopper so far. How do you remain calm in all of this chaos?

Each of us can go within ourselves in quiet meditation or contemplation. We can sit down and read a book that captures our attention. We can listen to Sound scapes, classical, or some easy listening jazz. The point I’m trying to make is you can be alone, quite, and relaxed, simply by going to your happy place in your home and just suck in the peace of silence.

Those that are hardcore meditators, particularly the Zen Buddhists, call meditation sitting, The simplest forms of their meditation is either following the breath or a body scan. Either technique achieves its end goal—serenity in the breath.

The greatest benefit of this process is learning to “control” the mind. You do so by focusing it gently on the breath and keep your attention there. It is harder than I describe it. Many of us have so many responsibilities, worries, and consume some form of news. The latter is the most stressful practice you can adopt. The news is designed to enrage, frighten, and confuse. If they achieve their goal, they have a person stuck in an endless loop of “soap opera”-type news stories that create a situation where you cannot stop reading to get your adrenaline fix.

Who can blame the news? They have to make money in a very competitive marketplace. They compete with podcasts, YouTube channels, Blogs, books, and social media. The news is on every channel in one shape or another. Even ESPN is political nowadays.

Chop down your news consumption. Treat yourself with loving kindness by taking 10-15 minutes to close your eyes and just listen to your breath. It provides tremendous benefits and will help you deal with all that is going on in the world.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Be Calm – Think Critically

03 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

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Clickbate, Critical Thinking, Media, News, Opinion, Propaganda, Science?

So much strife in the world. So much stress spanning the populations of the globe. COVID-19, racism, climate change, and corruption. How does one deal with all of this at the same time?

The simple answer—critical thinking. Think critically. It is a rare skill set these days, with most preferring to be puppets of the mainstream media, instead of thinking for themselves. Why? Because thinking is hard. Reading broadly is difficult. It causes us to face ourselves and the opinions of others.

Recently in the United States, George Floyd was a victim of terrible police officers. Police officers who forgot that everyone in our society is a roving camera and microphone. Police officers who forgot their sacred oath “to preserve and protect”. These police officers showed what a person in power can do to another person with no power.

Does it make sense that all law enforcement is racist? What police chief in the United States would enjoy having a police officer in his police force that would do such a horrific thing so publicly? The answer: None of them would. Think critically. Who would benefit from a racist police force, when the result is the destruction of our cities, assault of innocent people, and general disruption of society? The answer: No one. It is a no-win for anyone involved.

Are there bad apples in the police force? You bet. Are there bad apples in the media, the military, the corporation, religious institutions, the government? Yes. There is not one organization on this planet where bad apples do not exist. Think critically.

COVID-19 shut the planet down. Was that prudent? You bet. The problem arises, however, when the riots began in the United States. If social distancing and remaining closed is so important, why were these policies tossed aside after the first Molotov cocktail was thrown? Why are the numbers in countries and states that remained open or opened recently, not in alignment with the models being used by the CDC for most of the pandemic? Think critically. What makes sense? What doesn’t? Who benefits by the shutdown of society? Who doesn’t benefit?

Climate change advocates chant “trust the science”. We trusted the science during the COVID-19 crisis, only to find out that most of the models we were using were outright wrong. Do you still want to trust the science? I don’t know. That’s a personal decision. Think critically. Who benefits from the changes required to counter the effects of climate change? Who is hurt by the changes suggested by science to curb the inevitable doom proposed by science? Think critically. Who benefits from supporting climate change? Do these same people abide by the same restrictions they suggest for the rest of us? Are they still using airplanes to get to their speaking engagements? Are they still staying in hotels? Are they still using limousines? Do they make any money producing the movies or documentaries that advocate policies that would thwart climate change?

I’m a huge advocate of avoiding the news. Why? Because it is really important that we control what we allow into our psyches. The media today is nothing more than click bate in most cases. They stress people out because anyone can figure out how to psychologically effect other people. When you have that formula mastered, are you telling people the news or spouting propaganda to influence the populace to your way of thinking?

You don’t have to tell me what’s in the news today. It’s the riots. It is the unrest in the United States. Everyone is stressed out. Companies and corporations are virtue signaling all over themselves, to preserve their profits and invoke some sort of sympathy from rioters to avoid trashing their businesses. The result: Nike’s stores are trashed in New York, with looters stealing their shoes. Starbucks stores are devastated with fires and damage. Target, a company which served as one of the primary repositories for goods for families during the pandemic crisis, are now being looted mercilessly doing untold damage to the local economies, the employees of these stores, and the local populations that depend on these stores for their livelihoods. Is virtue signaling helping anyone? I don’t know. That is a personal decision. Think critically.

Most folks in the United States are stressed right now. They don’t know what to do or where to turn, as their cities, highways, and normal lives have been thrown into chaos, while the media continues to support the narrative that society in general is racist, these people are just venting their pain, and we should just let them continue to destroy businesses, burn neighborhoods, shut down highways, and terrorize the very neighborhoods that suffer the most when their churches, transportation resources, and local businesses are shutdown or destroyed.

They are stressed because 40 million people (at last count) were forced to stay home and not work, so they could receive a measly $1200.00 check. They have been locked in their homes due to a “deadly” virus that now possesses less of a threat than the common flu. They have been told to social distance and wear masks, although now, it’s OK to ignore all these guidelines because people have a right to protest. Think critically. Does any of this make any sense?

Read broadly. Investigate. Don’t take everything you see and hear in the news as gospel. Form your own opinions, by weighing all the facts and applying logic to what you are seeing, hearing, and reading. The truth is out there, you just have to do the work to find it.

I do not advocate one position over another. The purpose of this post is to demonstrate that many of the challenges we face today are not as cut and dry as the left-leaning or right-leaning media would try to convince you to believe. I am merely offering a potential solution to our current right-wrong, opinionated, and divisive media. Avoid it at all costs. If you cannot avoid it, get out there and dig into the issue. Become an expert. Know what the left is saying, what the right is saying, and dig into the issue. My guess is that you will come up with some solution sitting somewhere in the middle of these extremes.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Watch What you Let In

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Spiritual Saturday

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

consciousness, facebook, Negativity, News, social media, spirituality, Stress

“Negativity sells.” – Stephen A. Smith

I follow Stephen King on Facebook and he mentioned today that he was leaving Facebook because there was so much false and misleading information on the platform. I agree, but Facebook has one primary purpose for me–to stay connected with friends and family.

When I first started using Facebook, I’d accept friendship requests from anyone. Then I began to learn my lesson rather quickly. Fake profiles, crazy crap showing up on my newsfeed, and people pestering me for money on Facebook messenger. Lesson learned. In early 2017 I went through my entire list of “friends” on Facebook and developed my own simple rule: If I haven’t worked with someone, met them in person, went to school with them, served in the military with them, or met them through a trusted source, like WordPress, friendship is rejected. You know what? My newsfeed is now filled with wholesome, funny, and relevant content that I enjoy.

The false and misleading information doesn’t stop at Facebook. It is all over the news. Another lesson: Stop reading the news. I scan the news, because I like to stay up on world events and know what’s going on, but I do not open up any news articles unless it’s from my hometown newspaper or it covers something I am interested in, like STEM topics, productivity, psychology, writing, or movie/music/book reviews. If I read something outside of my interest areas, it is purely for entertainment. You know what? My stress levels decreased immeasurably. Just because I refuse to get sucked into articles that are designed to piss me off, stress me out, or make me worry about something.

I guess what I’m trying to get across is the importance of maintaining your sanity by paying attention to what you let in to your consciousness. If you enjoy reading articles filled with lies, exaggerations, and are so slanted one way or another to fire you up, go for it. I choose not to. I’d rather fill my mind with the next scientific discovery on the horizon, look at terrific photos of landscapes, animals, or outer space. I’d rather learn something than read about all the infighting that has reduced our political dialogue to two monkeys throwing shit at each other at the zoo.

Read fulfilling literature, poetry, a well-written non-fiction or fiction book. Watch a good movie. Listen to healing music (classical, sound scapes, and instrumentals are my favorite). These are the things I use to build myself up.

The next time you feel yourself getting stressed out, check what you are letting into your life. I think you’ll be surprised at the stress you have that is self-inflicted.

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Wednesday Wisdom – Attached to Suffering

03 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

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Advertising, Attachment, Buddha, Marketing, News, social media, Suffering, wisdom

“Attachment is the source of all suffering” – The Buddha

Is there something in your life that you do not like? Does your job suck? Are you not making enough money? Are your relationships toxic? Are you unsatisfied with your image in the mirror? Final question: Why?

In most cases we have what we need. We may not have what we want, but we have what we need. We have a place to lay our heads at night; we have enough food to eat, and we have some means of making a living. Why are so many people suffering?

We suffer because we are resisting change. We resist changes to our body as we age. We resist changes to our employment when it’s time to move on. We resist changes in our relationships (i.e. it’s time to move on or accept that we weren’t right for the person who left us).

I used to suffer. I used to suffer from want and need. Then, I ran across this quote above and decided that I should change my mindset. I took a few times to understand this. Greed caused my two bankruptcies. I wanted things I could not afford and borrowed more than I should have to get the things I wanted, which today, I don’t even own.

Why do we buy things? Because we are unsatisfied. We are missing something. Both feelings come from being bombarded by marketers who are fighting for our attention and money. They show us pictures and videos of things we should have, places we should go, the diet we should be on, the food we should eat, the supplements we should take, the deals we’re missing out on. All this advertising has a huge effect on our psyches. It is constant, persistent, and all-encompassing. If you think this does not impact you, think again.

How do we avoid it? We can avoid social media, we can avoid the news, and we can avoid mindless surfing of the web. We can choose the sources of information we use and get rid of the rest. I enjoy social media but only spurts. I’m literally on social media for a few minutes in the morning and the evening. The same goes for the news. I scan the news for about 10 minutes in the morning while I enjoy my first cup of coffee. The rest of the day I am spending my time on the tasks that are important to me: Reading, Writing, Programming, Meditation, and Exercise. These are my Big 5. Everything else is secondary.

We can also develop a sense of gratitude and thankfulness. It takes time to develop this habit because we are told constantly that we don’t have enough and told we aren’t enough. We are missing something that the couple in an advertisement has. That couple by the way aren’t a couple, their bodies aren’t that perfect but photo-shopped, and that sailboat they are on is not theirs. It’s all made up. It’s all designed to make you feel you are missing something. If they convince you that you are, you just bought what they are selling or something like it to fill in this “make believe” gap in your life. A gap that isn’t even real. Do you understand how insidious this is?

Look, don’t get me wrong. I understand that marketing and advertising is needed. They tell us what is out there in case we are looking. What I’m describing is the effect these advertisements have on us and why they are so harmful. They create the suffering the Buddha talks about. We become attached to the idea that we don’t have enough; we aren’t enough, and the only way to fix us is to pursue more money, more things, which require us to work harder and harder to pay off the bills we keep adding to. It is a vicious cycle that most people never, ever get out of.

If you are tired of feeling crappy all the time, tired of running subconsciously on a rodent’s exercise wheel, take charge of yourself and your life. Take time to take inventory of what you have and express thanks for your life, your health, your family, your place of residence, and the job you have. None of them are perfect, but they are yours. You really don’t need another pair of shoes, a brand-new car, a new sound system for your home, or yet another bottle of protein or some powdered meal that will sit in your cupboard for the next year and gather dust.

Life is good. Be grateful for all you have. End your suffering by detaching from ideas and things, realizing that it will all change. It will change because everything in this life does. We change, our things change, our attitudes change, our ideas change, our relationships change. If you become detached, change is variety. Change is refreshing. Change is exciting.

Until next time…

Dave

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