I could provide thousands of personal examples but the one that really sticks out was the time I placed a bet on a football game. There was a certain amount of physiological excitement happening as the game was televised and about to begin. That excitement turned to stress as my team (and my money) were quickly both losing. For four quarters I sat glued to the set, vacillating between the possibility of my money returning to my pocket (with some new friends) and the other side of the coin, that I would never see those greenbacks again, let alone be joined by some unique yet similar contemporaries.
Although I wasn’t physically doing anything, my heart pounded at the “good turns” in the game, and even harder at the bad.
I vividly remember realizing that I could “hear” or feel my pulse in my ears thumping away. I took a deep breath, told myself to calm down, and walked away from the television.
Now in virtually every other situation the physical action of walking, versus sitting quietly, should have required my heart to work harder as I was now using every part of my body.
It didn’t.
My pulse slowed as I took a long walk around the casino away from the visual and auditory stimuli that was stressing my system.
After a few minutes my body had calmed and the desire to see the outcome (anyone who has gambled understands this) of my bet became greater than my concern for my well being.
Those of you who have been with me for a while (thank you) know how much importance I place on proper hydration, correct caloric intake, consistent exercise, abstaining from drug usage, and quality sleep.
Health Care or caring about one’s health.
These concepts, combined with working hard, saving money, and being beneficial to others, create the opportunity to have a life well lived, in my humble opinion.
With that said it is very clear to me that even with the success of the aforementioned items we are being physiologically crushed on a daily basis by “outside stimuli”.
In the average American home the television is on most of the time. The energy created by the “idiot box”, whether it be the actual heat or the verbiage that triggers the biochemistry in our brains, undulates wave after wave onto us, changing our appetites, our sleep patterns, and even our moods.
This is easy to prove.
We’ve all laughed, cried, or screamed at the TV at one time or another never mind the massive consumption of popcorn.
Our radios continue the barrage of stimuli in our vehicles on our way to our jobs changing our appetites, our sleep patterns and even our moods.
This again is easy to prove.
We’ve all yelled at the radio head zombies at one time or another.
Finally if all that wasn’t enough, we walk around with tiny computers called cell phones, in our hands or pockets, that provide a porthole for anyone to find us anywhere at anytime.
We’ve all had that person on the other end of the line that we’ve WANTED to yell at to stop talking at one time or another (and some of us have) because they won’t stop repeating the same drama we’ve all heard over and over again…for hours.
So I have a question my friends, my fellow Americans.
Why do we keep turning on the television?
Why do we keep clicking on the radio?
Why oh why do we keep answering the phone, especially today’s phones, that tell us exactly who is calling?
We do it because we have been conditioned to do so and it is my opinion all of this stimuli is causing not only more dysfunction in the world but more disease.
Our brains capture information through our senses. In today’s world most of that info is coming through our eyes and our ears.
Our visual and auditory senses don’t sort through the light or the sounds. They simply suck it all up like a vacuum and require our brain to filter out the trash. Too much trash will eventually clog any filter allowing garbage to seep through.
Garbage in and garbage stays in producing harmful chemical reactions in our brains which strain our glands causing our internal organs to struggle and eventually fail.
We have a name for this. We call it stress.
This “stress” creates swelling, pain, and infection followed by disease.
We’ve also been told time and time again that,”names will never hurt us”.
This is false, and because this type of behavior has been allowed for so long, many are suffering physically while attempting to cover it by overeating, drug abuse, or the usage of alcohol known as self medicating.
It’s not just adults. It seems every week we hear about a child who committed suicide because of “internet bullying”.
These are “names” and these actions are simply too much for some of our young to bear.
It is important to give positive and pleasant words to others. These physical acts benefit both parties.
It is of even greater importance to reduce the negative verbiage around us and this includes Facebook.
Every once in a while I will engage with the foolish on Facebook (merely entertainment purposes) but this doesn’t happen often. When I read something that elicits a negative biological reaction from me I listen to my body and remove the comment and disallow the person from ever returning to my page. Yes life is too short but that is not why I remove them. I remove them because they are their own form of cancer and can only provide me with harm as they are parasitical by nature. I wouldn’t allow someone to say abusive things to me in person (in person I have potentially different forms of recourse) and I don’t allow it online either. With a couple of clicks of my mouse those that will not learn are relegated to their own ever shrinking world that will eventually require them to make a positive change or perish.
Either is fine with me as I am amenable to both.
We won’t be able to stop every lost soul (see liberal) in the world from trying to get free therapy from us by venting their verbal vitriol but the TV, radio, phone, and Facebook are all under our control.
We lead by example and turn them off or only tune into programs and people who are actually beneficial or are at least willing to follow a portion of the Hippocratic Oath as in doing us no harm.
Our time and energy are our most precious resources and gifts.
It is time to stop giving them to the enemy or allowing them to be manipulated by “outside sources”.
It’s time to stop allowing these outside sources into our lives and homes where we feed our children and rest our souls.
When enough of us change our patterns for the better, the world will as well (and so will the Nielsen ratings) but don’t worry about the world right now.
You are an individual and you always will be.
Your opportunity to improve your health care has nothing to do with Congress and everything to do with YOU.
In fact I would argue the less we listen to Congress the better our health will be.
One more thing before I go.
Don’t bet on football.
It’s horrible for one’s pocketbook and even worse for your heart.
Just turn it off, go outside, and join America where we are taking huge deep breaths as the greatest nation ever is back on her feet standing tall, staring straight ahead with “clear eyes and full hearts”, as Old Glory beautifully waves, allowing our vision to release endorphins in our brain that can only be felt where Freedom rings.
God has blessed these United States.
The rest is up to us.
The rest is up to you.
Jason Kraus
www.aleadernotapolitician.com
