“We are [all] storytellers, sharing our perspectives and experiences through the art of media. Those who write the stories, influence the world. By transforming the predominant narrative, by being conscious with the influence of our media, we explore the possible shift of the story we are weaving together into one of triumph, cooperation, and celebration of humanity’s greatest potential as co-creators.” If you dig that sort of thing, check out the other themes of this interesting book: http://reinhabitingthevillage.com/ NOTE: Looks like it’s currently out of print but I’m trying to get in touch with them to see about a download link 🙂
One of the reasons I’ve stayed in LA for as long as I have is that I feel it’s possibly the single most powerful place from which to impact culture on a national and global scale. Media and entertainment is a trojan horse full of ideas, concepts and stories that we willfully roll into our living rooms and onto our devices. This city is a megaphone of culture, but most of the content being created and consumed is arguably pretty mindless stuff. If we consider the diet that we feed our mind every day, how much of it are “mental Twinkies”? This means it might seem enticing at first but in the end it leaves our minds feeling empty and malnourished. Stories have the ability to shape the way we see the world, and over time this has the power alter our reality by influencing all aspects of our lives: Who do we idolize? Who do we fear? What are we inspired by? How we treat ourselves and others? Just think for a moment about how much of your reality has been created by the content you consume. A huge amount of our beliefs have in no way been adopted through first hand experience. It’s pretty shocking actually and it doesn’t seem to media and entertainment are going anywhere any time soon, so what can we do about it? As usual, just learning to be mindful is a huge help.
Do you want to stand for positive change? Me too! A great start is to be mindful with the content we are consuming. TV, movies, games and especially the news media. If you’re a content creator, then it’s useful to really consider what kind of stories you’re bringing into the world. Don’t get me wrong, the occasional Twinkie is probably not going to hurt us, but it’s probably a good idea to feed our mind a balanced diet of largely healthy content. After all, the more we focus on shocking tragedy and raw sensationalism without turning our gaze to stories that highlight actual solutions and what’s already working, then the harder it will be to see the transformation we want to see on this planet. Just like the longer we eat Twinkies, the more physiological problems we’ll face, and the harder it will be to reverse the damage.
