How to not be suckered by internet fear mongering

I love the internet. I practically live here, and I'd like to think that everyone is jive and helpful and trying to add to the whole of human goodness.

That ain't the way, tho.

Because the internet is also how the majority of people get their information, and because the average person was never taught how to to think critically, the internet is also a big old fear machine. And people gobble up this fear and repeat it. But you font have to.

So whenever you home across some article that strikes fear into your heart, especially if the message of said article boils down to everything you love will make you die or this person you already don't like is about to take away this thing you love, step back, and think about it.

1. Fact check the crap out of that shit
Go to your fav search engine, and type in "what is the truth about____?", and then, and this is critical, look at all the answers. Not just the ones that agree, but all of them. Some things to keep in mind:
- the first two out three pages should be actual news sources
- are the dates on the articles current?*
- who has a vested interest in keeping you scared, and are the scary articles only coming from them?

Because here's the thing: the news is wildly biased, and there are always leaders who want you scared--so you won't ask questions, so you will vote one way and not another, so you won't ask for change because you won't know it's needed.

Ask who is trying who to get you to do what, and if the who is a very powerful political entity, our a very large corporation known to be shifty, or a community leader who doesn't like people to ask questions about what he's doing, maybe think again before freaking out.

Be especially wary of people who ask you to be angry without also giving you an actual action other than being argumentative, because anger is inherently irrational. Who wants you irrational? Why?

2. Consider your sources
Not all news is equal. Look at where your info is coming from:
- is it first hand from people who are actually educated to talk about these things, or is it second, third, fourth hand word of mouth?
- if it's from an actual news source, do they link to actual educated people, or to actual scientific studies, or to places that have standards of review?
- is it verified by someone other than affiliates of the original fear mongering?
- is the news from a source paid for by the people who would lose money when you bother to know the truth?

Any hint of dishonesty in any of those things should cause you to pause.

3. Remember what you learn and apply it next time
There is literally no point in doing any of this if you're going to just jump right up and freak out about the next thing without verifying the information first.

Thinking takes effort, and there will always be someone who wants you lazy and controllable. And that's usually the person upholding the thing that's bad for you. What's the point of these big human brains if we aren't using them?

NOTES
* We recently got a call from a family member freaking out about something that was misreported, discredited, and corrected two years ago. It could have saved them a lot of fear just by literally five minutes of fact checking.

On divination, meditation, and setting up your own spirituality

(isn't this this most ridiculous picture ever? i sort of love it.)

A few years ago, I made a set of oracle cards that I still use when I need guidance--but I think that all that guidance comes from my own subconscious. I made the cards vague on purpose; each one only has one word, and no pictures*, and the meaning is not written or defined anywhere. I did it that way so that I can always interpret it the way I need to, in combination with the other cards in a draw, to get the meaning that my subconscious is trying to get across to me that day.

I think this is how all oracles work. It's basically nonsense and randomness, but it's nonsense and randomness you use for yourself to make meaning and glean self-determined guidance. 

I think the only guidance that matters, even the guidance from other people, is the kind you filter through your own needs and wants and knowledge and higher / deeper knowledge. It's all what you already know but haven't faced yet.

I've always loved the concept of oracles, but I never really fit with any of the pre-made ones. I have a tarot set that I bought because it's pretty and never use. I made a rune set in highschool and keep it because it means something...I just don't ever know what. I'm fascinated by people who can throw sticks or shells or pig knuckles or stones and know what they're telling them. So I made one that works for me.

What works for you?

I meditate sometimes because I need the calm. I'm not trying to reach Nirvana, and I'm sure that I'm not the sort to reach it even if I was, but there is clinical and proven evidence that meditation works to realign the body and mind, to smooth over anxiety caused by too much not-calming-down, to solve problems you keep getting bothered by, and just to lower blood pressure, stay present, be happy. All of these things work. For me, anyway.

I usually sit for five or ten minutes with a timer running so I don't have to try to be conscious of time**, and just...be. I breathe deeply, I look at what my brain projects against my eyelids, I listen for advise and ideas and new ways to look at whatever is going on, and I practice not obsessing. It's something I really need to practice a lot, but obsessing over not obsessing is sort of defeating the purpose, so I try to bring my calm back out of the meditation space and into my day. 

Some days I just do it to get my back and neck to stop tightening up. Sometimes I listen to music. Sometimes I silence everything. Sometimes I sit outside somewhere nice. Sometimes I pretend to be sleeping and curl up with the cat. Cat purrs are very meditative, and Ninja loves any time when I'm still and warm and she can sit on me.

Most times, I have at least one thing to write down in my journal when I come back, and I write it down and keep it. Sometimes it's an image I can use in art or writing later, or a new idea for some project, or an answer to a question. Sometimes it's nonsense from my subconscious that I need to think about and meditate further on so that I can get the meaning out of it.

How do you create calm and maintain balance?

I'm not religious. I'm not anti-religious, either, because it's obviously working for some people, but I'm not one of them and I'm sort of skittish about religiousness being pointed in my direction. The way I see it, a religion should be discovered on your own through direct intentional searching, not through someone walking up to you and pushing it into your face. 

I haven't needed to look for religion, but I do consider myself spiritual, and I have constructed a list of things I aim for, values I try to support, physical things I try to do--like using cards to get to my deeper self, and meditating to keep my brain clean, and, when I was younger, running wild around bonfires under the full moon***. I've found nuggets of wisdom from all sorts of sources**** and pasted them together into an idea of how I want to be, spiritually, and that's what I aim for. 

I don't think I need any sort of external organization. I know what I believe. I've thought long and hard and tried on lots of different hats to get here. I don't need someone else interpreting the universe for me. I don't need external validation of my beliefs--in fact, I think the specifics should always be kept inside, in your own secret places, unless you're specifically opening up to someone lovingly and spiritually and honestly, like a lover, a best friend, a mentor, a Circle-sister. If everyone kept their beliefs to themselves instead of splattering them all over the world and making them into laws and proclamations they impose on everyone, think how much freer we'd all be!

So how did you find your beliefs? How do you live them and express them each day? How often do you weigh them in the face of new information and adjust them to new realities?

How much nicer would the world be if we all found our own spiritualities at our own pace, and built them to address our won needs, and left everyone else alone?

NOTES:

*I was going to add pictures and never got around to it.

**I have a really weak sense of time, and trying to figure out what ten minutes feels like when I'm intentionally turning inward is like trying to figure out what time means in a dream. 

***I love running wild under a full moon, and I'd still do it every month if my girls lived nearby. It's not as fun alone, and it's unfeasible right now because I don't have a yard and there's nowhere to light a bonfire.

****Spiritual leaders, lifestyle design folk, scientists, philosophers, actors and writers I like and feel drawn to, quotes from books and movies and TV--anything that speaks to me in the most crunchy-granola-hippie sort of way.