A Travel Blackout To Cure And Improve Our Tomorrows

I have been away in Mallorca for the last sixteen days on holiday. During this period I had a complete news blackout – no computers, television, newspapers, phones and so on. At the time of writing this post (Monday) I have no idea if the USA has sent missiles hurtling in the direction of Syria; how many goals England beat Moldova by, in their World Cup qualifying match (I presume they won); if any so called celebrity has done something outrageous, purely to get themselves in the public eye. I don’t know if … well, so may things I would normally have heard about in the media but – guess what?

The strange thing is that the world has carried on without me knowing any of this. I don’t actually need to fill my head with a lot of this garbage.

Here’s another strange thing. I don’t want to harp on about a health problem I had last year, but I will a little. Following surgery, nearly a year ago, I have had continued aches and pains on and off, though doctors and consultants say I’m okay. Within two days of being in Mallorca these aches and pains disappeared.

You can probably see where I’m going with this. I’m not saying that the aches were the fault of the news media but there is something to be said for that old adage ignorance is bliss. What we don’t know about doesn’t affect us.

Another strange thing. I took some books to read while away and one of these was The Zahir* by Paulo Coelho, and I’m not sure why I did. I have never thought much of Coelho’s books or what all the fuss was about The Alchemist. I thought it very overrated.

Despite this I felt compelled to read The Zahir first and found that the main character in the book said very much what I had been thinking:

And isn’t that the truth. As I have written before, nothing is new. We are constantly manipulated to seeing all that is wrong with the world – the negative side. No wonder so many people get illnesses and depressions. What we take in becomes part of us. Or as Coelho writes:

So what do we do? According to the tradition of the Steppes, known as the Tengri, to live fully it is necessary to be in constant movement – a nomad if you like – where everything, therefore, isn’t the same.

It’s doubtful if many of us can become nomads and constantly view new places but this is what Coelho’s character in his book suggests as an alternative:

All in all my break from the news media emphasised to me, what I have often said (but sometimes forget), about how what we think, say, do  and hear creates our tomorrows – our circumstances, health and life in general.

Paulo Coelho Books On Amazon USA
Paulo Coelho Books On Amazon UK

For more interesting and unusual stories like this go to 67 Not Out – coincidences, synchronicity, UFOs, reincarnation and many other mysteries.