If your like me, the news, … the plethora of TV pundits is kinda like a bathroom sink that won’t drain. A worthless pool of stuff in need of a good shot of Drano to clean the sludge out. I’m a loyal American. But too many times I feel like I’ve got hair like the Donald. Standing straight up on end screaming for me to just pull it out! Argh!!

If all the people in Washington were put in a sandbox and given toys, all broken, all the players in soiled diapers. Wailing mightily … our elected officials would sit alone, counting their cash. Picture that. Not an adult among them. We’ve all been ill from time to time. Infections, sickness, even stuff as bad as cancer. Thankfully through the miracles of modern medicine most of these can be arrested, cured or even avoided. We are a people as healthy as any in history.But there’s one malady we’ve yet to find a cure for. The daily drip … onslaught of news, opinion, “white noise” from the media and DC. Good God! How many “Alerts”; “Stop the Presses” can one take! Repeat after repeat. Like having a parent try to get you to eat your spinach … over and over and over. Without success. And somehow too many of us … me too continually get caught in this endless “loop”, repeat servings of this empty menu of “fake” messages.Like a bad cold we lament over it. Squabble with family and friends over it. Everyone seems to think a gold star is waiting if you win an debate with another about the news of the day. Everybody’s got their opinion … thinks they’re the expert.

This can numb the brain. Think of all the constructive things we could be doing. Reading good books. Teaching our children or grandchildren about important history they get too little of … don’t understand. Work out. Collect stamps! Anything rather than sit, growl, and entertain a bunch of self important people (that’s debatable) with a less than 20% national appeal?!

Ok. I have a solution. Live your life! That’s right. Live your life. Change is a choice … not a matter of capacity. We can choose how we live our lives. I’m talking about avoiding the toxins above. Going “high” as they go “low.” Find a little integrity in your life. Turn off all those beautiful news anchors the TV networks pay millions to talk at you. Stop “Wowing” all those carefully selected video clips designed to shape your opinion. Take the garbage out and dump it all. The human animal is the only animal on earth that can make a decision between stimulus and response. We all have a mental screen, a mind filter that can interpret what goes in … what comes out. We own our words, our thoughts. Healthily or unhealthily. Put it to use. Be aware of it.Then there are the diets out there. Nutrisystem, South Beach, Weight Watchers. Promising less weight, better health, more sex. How bout a few diets taking the weight off our brains? Offering to block the flow of mental “sewage” (sorry… tough word picture) afflicting our minds.

Pick three core values that will guide your decisions, your behaviors?  Teach your children, grandchildren the importance of truth, the art of healthy conversation. Have family meals … together.  Talk about … the value of personal relationships, real history, the value of resilience, hard work. How to love one another!

Oh … Unfortunately phones and computers are ever present pipelines of all this bad stuff too. A national urgency.There may higher taxes. Threats from abroad. Tragedies at home. Empathize with these for sure. Feel them. Just don’t let them consume you. Controlling them is not within your grasp. What is? How you choose to live your life. Building the life for you and yours that embraces the constructive, the nourishing daily actions, and activities that encourage growth … promote personal integrity.So go live your life. Change here is your choice. Not easy. But such an  important issue to confront . Maybe today’s most important issue of all.