We live in a world where controversy and atrocity gets more views than uplifting stories. Because of that, our top media outlets have been incentivized to publish the most triggering aspects of society.

For a long time, I strayed away from the news. Not because I didn’t want to be informed—I did. I just really couldn’t stand waking up every day to the worst aspects of the world.

Recently, though, I decided to dive back in head-first and start publishing a 10 minute daily news segment on my podcast.

I wanted to offer an alternative dialogue—not just by sharing uplifting stories, but by also going head-first into current events and still coming out with inspiring and empowering perspectives.

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I won’t lie. It was a big challenge, and for the first couple of weeks, I was feeling extremely heavy and drained. I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d be able to continue with the show, and was close to giving up on the project.

But I was entirely committed to not only be capable of being with the world myself, but to share that capability with the larger spiritual and conscious community. So I kept going.

Around Week 3, I sat in meditation and had a huge realization: “It’s not NEW. It’s AWARENESS.”

That one idea shifted everything for me.

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Let me back up a bit, and I’ll explain what that means and why this was such a huge shift for me. Back in college, when I used to watch, read, or listen to the news, I’d be overcome with sadness at the state of the world. I’d think, “How could this be happening? We should be further along than this.”

But recently, with further reflection on ideas like, “All suffering is simply arguing with reality,” I decided to attempt to re-enter the news with that perspective. I hoped to stay empowered and full by setting the intention of complete acceptance of all of it.

If everything in the news is truly a part of the world we live in, I saw an opportunity to increase my capacity to be with that reality—and accept it.

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That’s where I began the journey, but as I mentioned, after just a couple of weeks, I was already feeling drained and having trouble finding that place of acceptance.

Then…