Recently, my wife and I started binging the television show, Suits. I was enthusiastically told about this show by a close friend and co-author of mine. He raved about it; but I’d never watched a single episode. Let alone a season or two… or nine, as it turns out.

Netflix made the seasons available and as a result we made ourselves available to watch them. The show is quite interesting and the script is as tight as a timpani drum.

It engages the viewer as well as any good story can.

So, on a recent snowy and lazy Saturday afternoon, I plopped my body down on the sofa with the intent of binging on Suits again. My request to do so with my wife was met by her with a pause, signaling something different. She asked, “Why don’t we just read?”

Then, my pause…“Great idea!” My positive answer was followed by gathering up the plethora of books I’m currently reading. As I carried them with me to our kitchen counter, a thought hit me: “What am I becoming?”

I’ve heard it said, you are what you read. I again asked myself, “What am I becoming - as a result of these books?”. I smiled because my contract with myself is, I am a creative, free, worthy and strong man.

Suddenly, though, a follow-up negative question hit me like an EMT’s paddles on my chest, “What media have I consumed in the recent past that has hurt me?” I felt quickly visited by my conscience as I recalled negative influences that I allowed into my life. For example, I found myself drawn to consuming media stories that mock public policy figures against whom I’ve held grudges and embraced disrespectful attitudes. I found arrogance building up in me - and I didn't like what I saw. Disagreeing with someone is fine; being disagreeable about them is not fine.

How about you? What media are you consuming? What media is consuming you?

Let’s get into this… What’s reached out and grabbed you by the throat – and because of that, you’ve been gasping for air?

Here are some quick questions for you to consider, as you answer that:

1. What are you reading right now?
2. What are you binging on right now?
3. What’s eating your lunch right now?

Bedside Table Guilt

What are you reading right now?

Look at your bedside table (or wherever you put the books you’re trying to conquer). What’s on your table right now – how many books? Why are some of them even there? Are some of them gifts that you feel obligated to read? What are your guilty pleasures that you do so enjoy – and what books are you pretending to read because they’re work-related and you feel bad about ditching them?

Thin your herd & save the rest. Make four piles:

Books you really want to read.

Books you REALLY don’t care to read.

Books you feel guilty about not reading.

And books you saved because you already read them.

1. Keep the first group. Read them.
2. Ditch the second group. Get rid of them.
3. Set the third group aside with a drop-dead-date sticky-note on each book. After the drop-dead dates come and go, ditch THAT group, if they’re still unread.
4. Save the fourth group of books because you’ve already read them and loved them. Get or build new bookshelves, if you must! (I’m ALSO changing my bookshelves to accommodate the number of books I have ALREADY read and that I reread.)

Here’s what’s on my table & I’m reading right now:

• ​And There Was Light by Jon Meacham - Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle. Incredible author, incredibly gripping single volume. It might just be a help for America today.
• ​An Ordinary Man by Richard Norton Smith - The surprising life and historic Presidency of Gerald Ford. Sometimes life reaches out to us as it did to Jerry Ford, a Congressman from Grand Rapids, Michigan. His life was one surprise after another; quite extraordinary, in fact.
• ​The Meaning of The Millennium edited by Robert G. Clouse - I’m reading up on why there are Christians who do not see today’s Israel as being the Israel of the Bible.
• ​Borrowed Time by John Nolte - It’s a fiction tale of mystery and time travel written by a very down-to-earth author. John Nolte is a senior writer and editor for Breitbart News (with a serrated wit and laser-like, R-rated keyboard.)
• ​The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel by Douglas Brut - I know nothing about this book! I received it as a gift for my recent birthday. Whenever the title of a book tells you something is a “mysterious case”, the author and publisher tend to draw readers in!! I’ll report back to you as soon as I dive in and finish it.

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Netflix/Amazon Prime Addiction

What are you binging on right now?

Binging good shows that uplift your life isn’t bad. Settling for weak, poorly written dramatic travesties is bad, as each soul-sapping episode takes you lower and lower. Porn is the lowest.

Get rid of the cancers that crawl towards you through your phones, laptops and televisions.

Fire the bad actors. While you’re at it, fire the salacious actors and storylines, as well.

Think for just a second about having guests in your home who, after dinner start talking about subjects that are abhorrent to you. You know what’s unacceptable to you. Quit allowing your integrity to be trafficked by sick people who you’d NEVER invite into your family home and into the presence of your kids or grandkids. Fire them. Free yourself.

While you’re at it…fire your bullies.

What’s eating your lunch?

A recent research paper showed that an incredibly large percentage of middle-of-the-road voters unintentionally respond in deep anger to political bullies. They simply JOIN the angry ones already on their side, right or left.

Trump v Biden? No. This recent research paper is about Italy and has reference points to Germany and other European election cycles. The level of vitriol in politics today always seems to have “Made in the USA” stamped on it - but that’s not true. This article points out how the negative global mindset is tearing ALL of us apart- and that does not bode well for ANY of us - unless EACH of us choses wisely, kindly and purposefully to encourage one another - both at home and away. Earlier this year, while in Ireland, I engaged with Irish and British subjects/citizens. As an American, in a foreign land, I spoke life and respect. It opened up a series of marvelous moments of conversation and heart-felt connections. Those conversations were encouraging to them and to me.

So, what’s got you so tied up in knots? Is it your finances? Is it your marriage? Are your fears creating irrational worry, which you can do nothing to mitigate or change? Seek out encouragement, read life-giving books, watch empowering entertainment and watch or listen to podcasts that make you think. Embrace friends who embrace life. Cast off the bondage that has restrained you in times past. Fire your bullies.

You are what you read.

Life is too precious to be angry.

Life is too short to settle for soiled lives.

• Decide to embrace good story items – books, books and more books.
• Grab hold of videos that enrich your life. Flee porn.
• Whatever you are reading right now, choose the good.
• Whatever you are binging right now, allow it to tell you great stories in great ways.
• Don’t accept cheap counterfeits with crude language and bad actors with seared consciences.
• Whatever’s eating your lunch, let it go. You’ll survive.

After 45 years in politics and media, I can tell you this: issues and hot-topics come and go ... Your life is too precious to be ripped off by the media. Decide today to stay away from what brings you down.

Answer these questions:

What top books are impacting you right now? Tell me.

What top streaming show is most encouraging you right now? Fill me in.

What podcast is giving you hope? Not plugged into one? See below.

More later,

Den

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