What if you’ve been given bad intel?

1. The image you see in the mirror is not you. It’s only a quick reflection of your densest energy layer: your physical body. Even if you said, “I understand that it isn’t a reflection of my whole self, but it is how I look”, I would challenge you. It’s a rough approximation of how you look: light waves reflected through an atmosphere of impurities, interpreted by an, all too often, “judgy” brain. What if you’ve been given bad intel and the truth is that you’re adorable?

2. The theme of my mom’s small town Iowa 4-H club was, “To make the best better.” That’s pretty intense as there is no resting with that expectation. It’s a fine motto for doing, for baking pies and making aprons and skirts to be judged at the Fair.

Too often, though, we apply it to ourselves as a way of being, believing that we are never enough and always need to improve. What if that is bad intel and the truth is we are blue ribbon winners from the get go?

3. Twenty-four hour news cycles mean that news organizations need something to say all day, every day. Sometimes what passes for “news” is what other news organizations have reported previously? “Did you hear what FOX / CNN / MSNBC said?” That’s not news. It’s regurgitation with a spin.

The speed of connection with other parts of the world means we can watch the Queen’s funeral as it happens, work with colleagues in Different time zones, or watch human suffering in locations we can’t point to on a map. I do not believe our minds are made for this sort of constant input. It is too much to process.

What if believing we need to take all this information in in order to be “informed” is bad intel? What if we get to decide what is important to know?