I guess it was during the summer vacation that I got into the habit of listening to cable news. With the exception of "The View", daytime T.V. is pretty much a barren wasteland, and I just can't get into the reality shows. With the election coming up, well, news shows became like eating potato chips. I  just left the TV tuned to one cable station and a parade of commentary, interviews, and lively debates streamed through my living room. Before you know it, I started feeling like I knew the hosts. I was part of the cable news family. If I came upon one or two hosts who I didn't like, all I had to do was flip up or down a channel and there, again, was more cable news. When I went back to school in September, it was easy to keep up to date with my favorites when I got home, since these news pundits repeat their shows throughout the day well into the night.  
    I have to admit that I have always had an addictive personality.  Before this, I had watched "Law and Order", over and over. Before that it was "The Golden Girls" and before that "Friends". The one thing all the shows had in common was that each can be watched any time day or night on some cable station. I used to consider watching my "regular" shows relaxing. Sometimes I would actually watch, and other times they were just background noise. Maybe it's a living alone thing. Recently though, I started to realize that I was getting annoyed much of the time. My outlook was getting very cynical and I found myself getting embroiled in the T V discussions, often taking sides verbally as I listened. (uh, oh!) 
    Finally it hit me that my choice of which TV shows to obsess over was really affecting my mood. My evolution from" Friends" to "Law and Order" and ultimately 24 hour Cable News was more than a switch of channels. It was a shift  from frequent laughing to frequent aggravation. It was a drift from the comic side of life to the seamy side of life. Instead of watching "feel good" shows I was filling my mind with thoughts of crime, politics (some might say there is no difference between those two) and one world crisis (real or fabricated) after another. The fact is, for me, too much news is  becoming toxic to my spirit.     
    So I have decided to "take the cure".  I will detox my mind as I would detox my body...I will go on a news fast.; a sort of Spring Cleaning of My Attitude. For the next week, I am going to avoid all news from TV, internet, newspapers, and radio. I will replace those stressful exposures with walks in nature and drinking lots of herbal tea while watching only comical sitcoms. I might even drag out my old Bob Newhart tapes. I will drink lots of clear water with lemon twists to facilitate the purge. I have arranged for a friend to be my withdrawal buddy...a person I can call if I feel like I am going to waver and succumb to a quick Rachel Maddow or Anderson Cooper. It will be tough, but I will be strong. If someone leaves  The New York Times or the Newsday on the table in the faculty room, I will take my lunch to my classroom rather than expose myself to temptation. I will bring a New Age music cd to put on in the car so that I will be calm and not be tempted to turn on Talk Radio. 
    It will be interesting to see if, after a week, anyone notices a difference in me.

For more on Enlightened Grand parenting visit Nona Nita's Nook
and click My Path Productions for ideas that support conscious living