Truly Being Informed

Hybrid Approach to Informing Yourself

If you look at people who are successful in accomplishing their goals, you will see that they often have utilized a variety of strategies to do so.

If one looks across the spectrum of examples in society, many successful ventures are the result of joint ventures in which contributors share resources, roles, etc.  It might be public and private partnerships.  It might be an interdisciplinary team that provides healthcare.  It could be the healthcare approach by a society which involves a public component and supplemental private coverage – sometimes a more even combination might be referred to as a hybrid system.

Similarly a hybrid approach is best whenever you read or watch a news story or are attempting to critically evaluate anything for that matter, an approach which honestly considers the good points as well as the bad points is the best path to follow.

Don’t get caught into the trap of trying to defend your own perspective instead of recognizing the good points of another.  This is what happens all too often with politics, for example.  Admittedly sometimes one perspective is better than the other but not usually to the complete abandonment of the other.  More precisely it’s probably a matter of looking at the conclusions that are being drawn from either argument.  Give this a shot the next time there’s an opportunity to critically evaluate something.

More Perspectives

Did you generate some alternate viewpoints? In the last post I suggested that you should generate alternate viewpoints on a news story because doing so can often force you to take in more information than you normally would when you reach an opinion on something.

Some points to ponder:

If you’ve ever participated in volunteer organizations or other similar functions, you’ll likely have come across some folks in the group who don’t show up for a lot of meetings, they don’t contribute much; when they do have something to say it is negative, and so on.  The reason they often have such negative viewpoints or can be so critical is because they haven’t considered all the facts.  Sometimes a negative viewpoint is warranted but in this instance I am only referring to those who do little but criticize because they refuse to be informed on many of the issues.

A quick analogy:

If you know some competent lawyers you’ll know that when they are preparing for a case in court they will have considered the arguments of the other side, they are completely apprised of all the facts, and know the arguments and counterarguments.  Now in this instance they know all the facts and then they make their argument.  Now whether or not one agrees with their viewpoint, one must admit that at least they are informed.  This is what I’m getting at with respect to being informed with news stories.  Obtain as much information as you can before reaching an opinion.  At the very least you should always be reading the news and asking skeptical questions and then seeing if you seem to get reasonable answers.  Often you might get alternate viewpoints if you do so.  I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with having an opinion, but one should always try to be informed before forming one.

You know, in today’s busy and competitive world, being informed is not only valuable it is necessary.  That’s why I would recommend that you consider joining my free and continuous newsletter which deals specifically with how to be informed on a variety of important subject areas.  People often state that an activity is valuable if they can take away at least one actionable idea – with respect to improving the quality of their life physically, mentally, intellectually .  We’ll by joining my newsletter you will walk away with many actionable ideas on an ongoing basis.  To get started, simply enter your email in the sign-up box at the top or bottom of the blog.

Take care,

Matthew

Big Picture

I will keep this post short. I want to make a suggestion which I think relates to the concept of being truly informed.  The next time you read a news story and begin to find yourself forming an opinion, immediately try to find alternate viewpoints. You can listen for them in the news or you can easily go online.  Next try to ensure that you fully understand the arguments being made from all sides of the story that you have found.  I will pick up from here next time.

Twitter Updates for 2010-01-16

• Informed by the media lately? http://optimumawareness.com/ #

Media Coverage

I was reading an article in the Globe and Mail which discussed the fact that more people have left the province Alberta than immigrated to it. More specifically more people from other Canadian provinces had left Alberta than entered it; however, ultimately in the time frame referenced, the population of Alberta did grow, although you would not know it from the article. Immigrants from other countries caused Alberta’s overall population to grow.

What’s this have to do with anything?

Well it serves an example to anyone who truly wants to be informed: the lesson to take from this is that it’s not necessarily what is said in an article but what is not said. Although what was stated in the article was not actually false, it did not present all relevant facts in my opinion. The problem, though, is that the overall impression the reader may be left with is false – without having the additional information, that is. Fortunately I had obtained the additional information by having more than one source of information.

So it’s important to always consult more than one source of information and ask yourself whether all the important facts are likely included in a story whenever you read them.

This is yet another way of being informed and empowered in today’s world where much information is thrown at you. By doing this you put yourself ahead of many who will never take the time to be truly informed.

Happy Holidays!

Matthew

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Should Be Informed…

In the last post we discussed the notion that you have to learn to trust your own judgment by using your own innate ability to solve problems and analyze things.  We all have this ability but it does take persistence.

This ability begins with our ability to trust ourselves which starts by doing things on our own.  This is important when we are analyzing news stories and determining what choices we wish to make in life.

We also discussed the fact that news stories (and of course any information we’re given) likely do not present all sides of the story.  The reason for this is simple: because in reality there are many sides to a story and it doesn’t really fit into the space that is allotted for each news story ,or to be honest, most people’s attention spans.  This is really due to our culture which likes quick little sound bites but it is also due to the fact that the person presenting the news story will likely frame the points from his/her perspective and overall the news networks will do the same.

The overall effect though, if we trust the limited perspectives given to us when we take in new information initially, I believe is that it can lead to an effect that can be very detrimental to our own (much needed) state of being informed or empowered.

I’m not stating all of this to simply give you a sense of doom and gloom.  To the contrary: I think it’s great that we have the world of information at our fingertips nowadays and we can use this information to our advantage – quite simply.

What are the keys to getting more informed news?

Well for starters: comments hold the key…any sites that provides news coverage and allows for reader commentary will generally generate a variety of perspectives which if approached for an open mind can indeed provide various sides to the story – of course by now you know that there are multiple sides to a story and it’s quite limiting to suggest that there are only two sides to a story: i.e. the other side of the story.

I actually enjoy first reading the story and then the comments.  Often there is much more detail unveiled from those commenting because they often include a link to another site containing relevant more detailed information in addition to bringing forward information in their comments and their perspectives.

Additionally, because you can go on the internet and access information from a variety of sources and countries you can generally gain more perspectives on any issue you’re looking at.

In the end, though, I’m not suggesting all comments you read online or elsewhere are 100% quality and to be trusted – you still have to use your discretion – of course.

But what you will learn is that often there is more to the story than presented and you will learn to think from multiple viewpoints and then can form a more informed opinion.

Also I think a good routine to follow when reading a headline or snippet of news that gets your emotions flowing is to ask yourself the following: “Is there more information to this story than is being presented or captured in the headline?”

I think by approaching things with a rational scepticism we are being much more realistic and the outcome is that we will learn to become more informed over time.  The more we learn about things in life, the more our collective perspective of the world is increased.

I’ve often thought it was such a mistake to assume, as many do, that once we’ve gone through childhood, (or early adulthood) we’ve gained our perspective and learned all the significant things.  To the contrary, I think that we continue to gain more and more throughout our lives.  I think if we recognize this fact it opens us up in many ways.

The Power of News

If you think about all the negative headlines we read or hear about in the news it’s no wonder many people can get discouraged. Can you imagine if animals were able to produce and read their own newspapers?

Let’s look at an imaginary scenario.

First let’s imagine that animals start off by reading about what is happening to other animals in their village and, slowly over time, they obtain have global coverage, like we humans have, so that they can read about all of the animals in the rest of the word. Imagine for another second that animals thought about things the same way as humans.

In other words, they start hearing about the bad things that are happening to animals, ex. the animal that was killed while trying to cross the street, or the animals that are being killed by humans for food, etc. Over time many of the animals get depressed and start withdrawing from their usual routine. This wouldn’t work well for the animal kingdom would it? It would fall apart. Yet this is precisely how many humans feel after reading much of the bad news that is out there.

What can we do about it?

Let me provide a couple of tips.

Don’t constantly bombard yourself with news. It’s certainly reasonable to stay informed but don’t inundate yourself. Take a break from the news every couple of days. Don’t worry: the world won’t come to an end.

When you read about a news headline that upsets you or instills fear, try to analyze and see the larger message. Is their anything you can learn from this news story? Is there a healthier way of interpreting this news story or putting in the proper perspective?

Complete a web search on the opposite of what you just read. In other words, if you have read about someone who has been killed, read about someone whose life has been spared or saved. It’s important for you to have a balanced perspective. Only certain items are put into the news. Bad news usually attracts more viewers than good news. So by watching the news you are bound to get more of the bad news many times – or at best the news that deemed important by the people in networks who decide what’s important. What do you think they’ll decide is more important?

Attitude Doesn’t Affect Cancer Survival

I came across this headline today while checking the health news headlines. I like to keep abreast of the latest developments. It’s quite an alarming finding that was talked about by the website WebMD.

The study was said to have followed 1000 patients with head and neck cancer and when they controlled for all variables found that positive outlook had no bearing on improved lifespan.

I felt it to be of utmost importance to address a couple of points, considering how deflating this could be to anyone diagnosed with a serious illness or anyone who knows someone diagnosed with cancer, or really anyone in general.

Here are some points to ponder:

If the same study showed that 1000 patients were able to extend their lifespan with a positive attitude would it have been considered as influential and definite by as many? I think not.

Usually when a comprehensive study is done the implications are restricted to the findings. In other words, technically this study might have indicated there is not benefit from a positive attitude on head and neck cancer but this study did not test the influence of a positive attitude on other diseases.

I’m just saying that usually people are cautious when interpreting findings, but, for instance one expert commented that “The idea that we can control illness and death with our minds appeals to our deepest yearnings, but it just isn’t so.”

Again if a comprehensive study showed favourable findings with respect to cancer survival rates and people started saying it meant that the mind can help the body, I’m sure many experts would articulately comment that the study only looked at head and neck cancer and we cannot discuss the affect of attitude on other illnesses. Yet when people make sweeping statements like the above no one corrects them.

Anyone who has studied mind and body interactions knows that it takes more than a positive outlook to influence health. What good is a positive outlook if you don’t really believe it (at a deep level) How does this study control for that? In other words there are many people that consider themselves to have a positive demeanor, but deep down many may have doubts about the efficacy of a positive attitude on their health. Are they going to be able to account for this in the study?

Have you known people who lead such healthy life styles and appear to have such a positive outlook but yet get very sick? Just because one does everything that it considered “healthy” doesn’t mean they are really positive – at a deep level that is.

For instance I’ve known many people who exercise, eat healthy and appear to have a positive attitude and some of them get sick while others, who don’t appear to lead what’s considered a healthy lifestyle, don’t get sick. Many of the so called healthy people are not that healthy underneath because many might be so rigid in their approach that they are stressed at a deep level.

There is certainly nothing wrong with leading a healthy lifestyle – of course – actually I highly recommend doing so, but if we ignore the basic level of our inner emotions we are not truly healthy.

I do believe that if we can look at this study with the right interpretation it can lead us in the right direction.

What can we learn from this?

I have been personally researching the mind body interaction for many years, surveying many of the leading thinkers in the field. I have come to my own opinion after reviewing an abundance of information available on this topic.

In order to be truly healthy it takes more than a positive attitude, rather it takes a positive outlook at the very basic level of our being as humans. Simply put, we need to really be happy. That is the most important. Many of you have heard the word vibration. Vibration acknowledges the fact that everything in the universe is made up of energy, which vibrates.

When we are in a healthy state we are in a healthy vibration and the opposite is true when we are in a negative vibration. When we are truly at a level of healthy vibration, we not only have a positive outlook, but we can be positive at the core. It is my assertion that maintaining this true level of vibration allows us to be truly healthy and can certainly influence our health for the better.

Closing comments

I am not attempting to discount the physical either. If one has an illness I don’t think there is any harm in getting help from traditional medicine. This is really a topic for another day but suffice to say that I think one has to acknowledge the physical and the spiritual side of things. If we think of being truly healthy at our core, would we not welcome the help of traditional medicine? We would be open to helping ourselves.

On one last note, the study mentions that people often blame themselves for not having a positive attitude when they become sick. This might be true, but I think I’ve gotten my point across that it is most important to have a healthy vibration than merely have a positive attitude. I do agree that people should not blame themselves when they become sick. Rather they should become as proactive as they can to address the points I’ve mentioned and welcome all the help they can receive. It’s not about being right; it’s about being truly healthy.

Let me know what you think…do you know of relevant cases? Have a similar opinion or a different one? Post a comment below.  I’d love to hear from you.

- Matthew