I was watching TV the other day and the following struck me: It’s been proved that 20 minutes of playing violent video games desensitizes children to real life violence. It also showed that it makes them less responsive to helping others, it instantly makes them less empathetic. 

The test showed that 60% of the boys that played violent games for 20 minutes didn’t help another when placed in such a situation, directly after they had played this war game.  They also didn’t show any emotion when they watched real life violence.  These children were also more violent to others… Whereas 80% of the children that had played non-violent games offered to help the other person instantly when placed in the same situation, and their heart rate went up dramatically when watching real life violence.

I found this quite shocking and quite a revelation that playing certain games for only 20 minutes, numbs us and makes us less helpful.  It made me think about us grown ups. How many of us are desensitized too, and do we realize it? Are we aware of this? Probably not.  If we are desensitized and we don’t know it, we will raise our children like this too… this is desensitization on top of desensitization. That doesn’t give us a great outlook for our future.

BUT… here comes the good news… what the test didn’t show was how to get these kids back to being caring again. Would watching or playing a non-violent game be enough? If we can desensitize in 20 minutes, we should be able to open up and become more sensitive in 20 minutes too.  The knife cuts both ends.  And this is what I teach and why I teach it. This is why incorporating positivity is SOOOO important …

However, if we have played hours of this game, we possibly need hours of the opposite to return to a loving state as well.

It left me with many questions and yet it confirmed to me that we are constantly being programmed by what we do and what we take in. We need to be more aware of this and we need to become more decisive on what we take in, not only for our children but for ourselves too. We need to emphasize the positive and the good for ourselves and for others.

If we want to be loved, we should take in love and we should rule out that which is the opposite of love. We should love as much as we can on all levels…If we want to be pure, we should feed ourselves with purity on all levels in what we eat, what we hear, what we think and say… and so on…

What we want to be and how we want to live is what we should surround ourselves with. This enhances our inner world… and it will enrich our outer world instantly. This doesn’t mean we should ignore reality.  That is not what I am saying. I am saying that we should select carefully what we watch over and over again, what we do over and over again, and what we say over and over again. If there is a healthy balance, there is no problem and we can become healthy in ourselves again. We can then give our children a healthy balanced view, and attitude towards life as well.

I’m writing this because I want to invite you to have a look at your life. Just doing 20 minutes of something that you want to invite into your life more, will make an immediate difference. Isn’t that hopeful and worth a try…?

It also made me see how important my work is. How easily we can change ourselves when we work with a positive attitude, and how meditation, relaxation and hypnotherapy are tools to use in changing ourselves back to a happier state of mind.  It’s never too late or too early to start this journey of positivity… and you are welcome to get some guidance and help… if you feel you need it. I’m just a phone call or email away!