Me or My Information?
I remember Master Johwa speaking about information very often when I first started training with him. I never heard anyone talk about choosing information before. It seemed strange to me at the time and I didn’t really think much of it.
One night after attending a workshop I went home and watched a movie. It had a lot of violence and dark images which was normal to me because I liked action movies and it seemed just fine at the time.
Later I took a shower and suddenly I felt disturbed. As if what I watched was lingering in my mind and was now bothering me. I didn’t understand why this was bothering me.
This experience would come again and again with other things that seemed normal to me at one time and now irritate me. It feels as if I couldn’t see what was wrong with it before or as if I was similar to that information before and now I’m changing and so is my taste in that information.
At some point I got a little ambitious and decided to take some action by using information. I figured if water seeks its own level, like I did with dark movies, then maybe if I choose to surround myself with higher quality information regularly it will raise my level even higher.
I decided to changed the playlist on my phone with music and audio that supported my hopes and aspirations for myself instead of just things that I normally prefer. I also tried to avoid information that I liked but didn’t serve my purpose.
It’s amazing what a difference it made in a short time. I got excited and bought headphones that I kept on most of the day. People make a lot of comments because I’m always wearing those headphones. They think I’m just listening to music for entertainment. Sometimes I feel like it gives me a good buffer between myself and information that I don’t want lingering around my brain.
I learned a lot about myself through this experiment. I learned that the negative information that lingers was always happening to me but now I’m becoming more aware of it and can do something about it and with it. I learned that negative information tends to stay with me for about 2-3 days before it really calms down. I learned that it takes me about 2-3 days to process some new information and much longer for shocking information. I also learned that I am drawn to certain information which is not in my best interest and that I choose that information more when I am tired, stressed, upset, or when I loose my headphones for a few days.
I also learned that if you don’t continuously choose higher quality information you can sink far and fast and it becomes harder to choose well again. But the thing I like best is that now there is more of a choice. Before what ever information surrounded me long enough became me. I would say things like “that’s me” not realizing it is more of accumulated and unmanaged information than who I am. Using this in daily life makes me feel more like a player in the game of life instead of just a victim.
