Please Note: Winter Blooms is an educational website only and is in no way meant to replace experience with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist. To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane at 802-533-9277 or jane@winterblooms.net for EFT coaching support.
Here in the US, we are once again collectively immersed in the traumatic aftereffects of September 11, 2001. Many 9/11 stories are very important indicators of recovery, transformation, and hope, but an equal number of reports are fear-based. In these days of total immersion in technology-generated information/entertainment, it is vital to discern how each news source impacts our sense of well being. Tapping can help us to gain perspective on national and international events, no matter how horrific, and to maintain an informed view of the world as it is. This is important because we need balanced and reliable information to live well in the world, as individuals and as a nation.
Media-generated fear came to light in media-influence studies conducted throughout the nineties. During that decade, actual crime went down in the US, but at the same time, stories of crime became more sensationalized on television news shows and as they did, viewers concerns about crime and imminent danger rose. The total-immersion, sensationalized coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder story and subsequent trial is a case in point. Media studies suggested that crime stories with emotional content conveying a sense of immediate threat raised viewers fears. Although we were actually safer in our cities and towns than we had been in the eighties, we felt less safe because the news stories we were watching and the manner in which actual and invented crimes were presented on major networks and cable frightened us into believing we were less safe.
In the bid for ratings during that time, news producers glamourized their hosts and presented violent news stories in great detail. We continue to live in the midst of growing media empires that blur the lines between information and entertainment, so that many programs written to entertain rather than inform encourage our belief in an unsafe world. One of the consequences of developing this unsafe-world view is the highly polarized lack of civility that prompts major network news broadcasters to shout down opponents and to appeal to our prejudices and fears rather than our ability to understand actual issues and think about these clearly.
When I discuss the state of televised programing with friends, they often tell me I should simply avoid news and live my life as if the real tragedies of the world are not occurring. Sadly, they sometimes site the Law of Attraction as the basis for their advice. The trouble with this approach is that there are very real situations that require our attention and actions as citizens of a democracy. Knowing the worst about our species is balanced by knowing the best about human beings. If one of us transcends hatred and fear to build a bridge between hearts, each of us can learn to do so. This is what democracy is all about – living individually with rights and freedoms and responsibilities as we maintain this highly dynamic personal and social ideal by participating in fair and equitable governance.
We saw democracy in action in Ferguson, Missouri, when citizens came out to protest the death of a seventeen-year-old-boy who was targeted because of his youth, his colour, and his size. I would like to think the tappers of the world participate in such protests because we are always on the side of peace and equity. Well informed, thoughtful people are less likely to over-react to physical appearances and are more likely to resolve any conflict using well developed speaking and listening skills, something that is now happening in the aftermath of the Ferguson shooting and protests. Unfortunately, our major media sources encourage us to become less informed, more entrenched in our often fear-based opinions, and more likely to react to situations rather than to respond thoughtfully. These same sources also encourage a cynicism stemming from the uninformed opinion that certain groups of people are simply bad and therefore deserve unfair, violent treatment. This cynicism leads to the contagious depression and self medication common in our culture and stands in direct opposition to the joy that results from positive engagement within our communities.
Tapping to improve our ability to see clearly and to act wisely in order to evolve our world toward peace, harmony, and justice is both our birthright and our responsibility. The natural world bespeaks an interrelated, harmonious connectivity, one that maintains balance and the beauty of diversity. Individuals and small groups mimic the natural world when we build bridges from one culture to another, one race to another, one sexual orientation to another, one religion to another with our open minded, curious, and respectful behaviours. Using tapping – an extraordinarily powerful tool – to discover how we can make positive contributions to a more joyful, equitable world – despite media on-going bids for ratings – is a giant step toward making the world everyone’s safe and beautiful home. It is in the world’s and our own best interests to use tapping to become involved in our communities because joy and positive agency are inextricably bound together. And, as we soon discover when we learn to tap skillfully, tapping supports joyful positive agency in all our endeavours.
Until next week
Jane
Jane Buchan, MA, AAMET Advanced Practitioner, jane@winterblooms.net, 802-533-9277