Living On the Edge

I have in my office a rather funky postcard with a quote from Lou Whitaker, "If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space." While I love this quote, I've been ruminating on what it means. In our world of duality - light and dark, positive and negative, what is the duality of "living on the edge"? Could it be that we are either living on the edge of hysteria or living on the edge of greatness?

Let's start with the idea of hysteria. When did America become a culture of hysteria? I can't pinpoint the exact date but it seems to be sometime before the year 2000. In the year 1999, we had the Y2K scare (remember that?). Since then we have had the avian flu pandemic; red, orange and amber alerts; elections depicting candidates as the anti-Christ; the collapse of our economic and financial systems; and the Denver boy off in the hot air balloon. Some of our fears have been for naught, since the actual event never occurred. Other fears, although real enough, have been expanded beyond the current reality. Our news media has moved from a fact-finding, truth mode into a editorial, divisive, confrontational mode that seeks ratings over accuracy. We have allowed those fringe thinkers with money to have the center stage. What does this type of media blitz do to us? I contend that it leads us to "living on the edge" of hysteria.

Andrew Weil recommends a media news fast in his book "Eight Weeks to Optimum Health." He states that research shows that the emotional content of news can affect mood and aggravate sadness and depression. "I'm not asking people to become uninformed. I want them to discover they have a choice as to how much they let in so they don't fall into this unconscious, habitual pattern of letting it in all the time," Weil has said. When I raise this idea to my friends I usually get some resistance. Many express concern that they will not be a "good citizen" if they aren't informed. My question is how does watching or not watching news change your behavior? Do you join activist groups, march on the capital, contribute funds to lobbyist arguing your cause? For most of us, the answer is no. If that's the case, I challenge you to a 2 week news and media fast. See if your life is calmer, with less hysteria, and more emotionally centered without news. Should you wish to expand your civic duties, contact a local nonprofit group and volunteer your time and talents to feeding the hungry, reducing illiteracy or visiting the ill or dying. If we take even a portion of the time we spend in media "hysteria," and spend it instead on helping others; our lives, the lives of others, and our world will actually improve. Fear then will become productivity.

Let's end this entry with the idea of greatness. We can chose to "live on the edge" of our greatness, of our personal growth, and of our service to others. Living on this edge is euphoric rather than hysteric. It takes us to a place of expansion where in Star Trek terms "no one has gone before." If you're not living on THIS edge, you're truly taking up too much space. Move over.