What to Do When Someone Throws You a Flaming Beach Ball

As we well know, there’s gracious plenty info to absorb ’round the clock that’s supposed to help us stay updated on every damn thing.

It comes via the news, yet also casually appears in the form of light entertainment, such as morning TV shows and human interest stories that—surprise, surprise—all too often have an agenda.

It’s 24/7 mind-filling and mind-steering, whether we asked for it or not.

And we’re glued to it, as though something good will come of that relationship.

But all this news and info is meant to provoke us, not soothe us or ease our minds.

Remember, shiny human, that the role of the news and info media is to peddle fear. 

And when we’re afraid we tense up.

All this tension leads to balled-up mental states and balled-up physical conditions. Just as when tension makes your blood pressure go up or can give you an ulcer or a migraine or worse, all this tension and stress gets in our system. And when we let it run off unchecked, we’re headed for trouble.

This is true for all the tension and stress we take on.

Obviously, some of it’s unavoidable, so we might-oughta learn to handle it.

Much of our tension and stress, though?

We take it on voluntarily, though we get convinced it’s required. We get convinced we absolutely must listen to, read, watch, or take part in this thing, that thing, the other thing, or even all of it.

The remedy here is to take control of what we take in and then learn to handle it.

One solution is to simply learn to respond rather than react. Because when we react, our body and mind, both, do that balled-up tension thing.

And when we respond, we give our body and mind the space and opportunity to stay cool.

Because when we blow our top, we also blow all sorts of circuits in our body, mind, and soul.

This is not healthy—of course and obviously.

So it’s good to know like you know your own name that the fear-peddlers depend on our reaction, not our thoughtful response.

They want us to feel uneasy. Worried. Afraid. Even freaked out and powerless. Their aim is to provoke us. They consciously, deliberately egg us on. 

So the deal is, if someone throws you a flaming beach ball, you don’t have to catch it! You really do not have to catch it. Just let it drop. Let it sit there in the sand beside you.

Walk away for a while. Let it fizzle out while you think. Then decide whether to pick it up and toss it back.

Or not.

You can always walk away from it.

No harm will come of you not catching that flaming beach ball.

And no harm will come of you turning off the news (the TV, the radio, the newspaper, all of it).

You are absolutely not required to be on top of what someone else thinks or says you should be concerned or even panicking about. Be ever mindful of being jerked around, even when subtly and maybe even attractively, by what’s presented to you. 

You are absolutely not required to have a big reaction that raises your blood pressure and gives you a headache. You’re not required to be worried or afraid or even freaked out.

You can take control of your feelings far more often than not by learning to respond rather than react.

In this atmosphere of overwhelming, suffocating information and stimulation, it’s more important than ever to learn this. It’s difficult, if not nearly impossible, to not be affected.

So it’s both a decision and a skill to respond rather than react to the constant stimulation and information. And it takes practice.

The alternative to being in charge of your own feelings is to hand your feelings over to paid-to-provoke-us media conglomerates (and the subsequent crowd-mentality that the provokers drum up) that have zero regard for your values.

But…

It’s a well kept secret—by those suffocating us with things to worry about and be afraid of, that is—that we have a choice at all.

This is a set-up and doesn’t serve us—and that right there is clearly a system to buck.

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