Our primary media sources have become more porous over the years. We should vet any news reported before it becomes a belief in our minds. Popular media outlets have developed a habit of telling partial truths to gain leverage when pushing their agendas onto their viewers. If the news reported by major news networks, the government, and the internet cannot be trusted, where should we get our information from? In this month’s Tune-Up-Series, I want to provide a guide to help identify suitable sources of knowledge. You should be able to create a determination of what to believe instead of what you were told.

We live in a world where the media can report what they want us to see. In turn, what we see enough will eventually become our belief because it was part of a plan. This may be conspiracy talk, but if you know anything about me, you know that I ask questions to fill in the gaps. Do you ever wonder why they do not teach about attaining wealth and abundance in schools? There is a reason for that, but that will have to be for another day. The same is true for what is happening in the world. Some examples include The Border Crisis, COVID-19 Vaccines, Election Fraud, and much more. We can agree that there are two sides to each of these situations/scenarios. If there are two sides, then how can you ensure that you are on the correct side?

To find the truth, we must know what types of questions to ask for the answers that are given. I may have more experience than a typical person, but anyone can acquire this skill. What I do is ask the right questions when given a porous answer. These answers typically can hold the truth for a time, but eventually, the truth seeps out. I use this method when dealing with new clients because it will become a false truth if we tell ourselves a lie long enough. This same method can be used for the media sources you look to for information. In a world where the news we receive can be detrimental to our well-being, I created a concept called the Tools of Knowledge.

The Tools of Knowledge is another concept I created to help people understand how to source and gain usable content. This can be from books, movies, people, etc. The main difference here is to know where you are getting the data and to operate from multiple sources. For example, my parents live in Connecticut(CT). If you know anything about states, you will understand that CT is a Democratic state that runs blue. I grew up there, and it is a beautiful place, but it wasn’t until I moved out of CT could I realize how I was being corralled into a corner. By this, I mean the data I was given was not the whole truth. I started to wonder if I was not being told the entire truth, then what was I being told in other areas of my life? Not to my surprise, I was being fed a steady dose of lies and agenda that did not benefit me by any means. More on this later.

The Process

1. Where do you get your information from?

2. After you receive the information, what emotion do you feel?

3. Ask someone outside of your circle/region for their point of view.

4. Create your own belief

5. Ask yourself, is this belief going to help me get the life I aspire to have?

Where do you get your information from?

Suppose you are like most people, then you will get your news content from one of the major websites or news channels. I will not say that there is a perfect media source; this is a guide for deciding where to receive your information. Getting your data from government officials can be a valuable source, but what has happened over the years is that our politicians have become corrupt. I didn’t see this until the Obama years, but I was young and naive. Now that I can piece the pieces together, I can make choices not influenced by emotions alone.

If I told you that all politicians were corrupt, I would not be telling you the truth. What I notice from a non-bias standpoint is that these young politicians are going in with the best intentions in their hearts and minds. What happens, though, is that the fairy tale belief they were raised to believe is destroyed by the powers within. You can take a look at this article from the Washington Post about corrupt politicians. This article does not mean all politicians are bad, but people can be swayed to go against their morals and better judgment with time and circumstance. People will spoil the whole bunch, so it is essential to understand that not every apple will be sweet.

My recommendation is to do your research on what news sources can be trustworthy. I do not have one network or channel I recommend because they are all littered with opinions and possibilities. This just points out to me as being a way to get views and incite an emotional response in people. If someone or something doesn’t make you feel good long-term after the fact, that may not be good for you. One example of something that doesn’t make you feel good after the fact is drugs and alcohol. Yes, it feels good now, but not long-term. The opposite of not feeling good now but feeling good later would be working out and getting in shape. One helps you become better, and one destroys you.

If you are looking for the best news sources to get your information from, I have found ways to look at all the channels unbiasedly. I do this by formulating two areas of focus. Those areas are:

1. If it is true, what does that mean for me/my family/the world/etc.?

2. If it is false, what does that mean for me/family/world/etc.?

Under these premises, I will determine if they are 100% truthful or below that margin. That means if something is not 100% true, some fallacy needs to be identified to provide the missing data. I find that many people fill in the missing pieces with opinions rather than statistical data and facts. My advice is to make sure that what you believe as a result is backed by reason. Make sure to ask all the questions that need to be asked to come to a sound conclusion. (To simply not follow blindly or because someone told you)

After you receive the information, what emotion do you feel?

After you have done your homework and researched all that is available to you, you can start to identify how each source of news made you feel. Do you feel scared, fearful, angry, happy, etc.? I find that scare tactics are a favorite when I watch mainstream news networks. I understand why they do it, but do you? News networks will put out news or articles that urge your attention because with each click or minute watched on television, they are making money. The ads and commercial slots they sell to fund their operation are the bread and butter that keep them alive. If they can keep you hooked, then they have already won. An important part is to see if they care more about money than providing you with objective news. You find this out by the ratio of ads/commercials in the broadcast. If it is a self-run organization, you will see its products, but that is more so to continue to fund the operation.

If you ever take a look at my website, you know I am entirely self-funded. I understand that I may need to place ads or sell commercial time on-air in the future, but as of now, I have no reason to lie. My audience will be the ones seeking truth and a better understanding of their own beliefs. My content is not to make you fearful. You may get angry at something I say, but anger is a secondary emotion. If I said something that offended you, you have a lie somewhere in your thinking. Even when I speak with people with opposing views, I can hold a cordial conversation because of my mutual respect expectation. If you cannot have mutual respect during a conversation with me, you will be doing a lot of talking to yourself.

If someone tries to manipulate your emotions, then it is time to rethink the relationship. This includes the sources where you get your news. I came up with an example of a con artist that makes their way into your life. Would you give this person a key to your house and access to all of your valuables and possessions? If we take it a step further, we can reference our home as our mind. Why would you allow someone to come into your life/mind to steal/destroy what you have built? You should have a clean and clear sense of peace where you reside. How do you want to feel when you read something to turn on the television? Do you want to be fearful or excited about what is possible in your life?

Ask someone outside of your circle/region for their point of view.

I first started to see the discrepancy when I moved to Texas from CT. If you know anything about CT, you know that we have the potential to receive large amounts of snow. In 2017, Texas had some snowfall, and the USA seemed to report what disasters were happening in TX. Again, I know what real snow looks like, but what I saw and experienced was nothing. Now, I can already hear people saying that you have experience driving in the snow, and blah blah blah. It is not about my skill set but more about the severity of a matter. Since snow is not common in Central TX, it gave the media outlets something significant to report.

The way the news reported how Texas was dealing with the snow was nowhere near how it indeed was. The information would say how bad it was, that people were at risk, etc. I had family and friends calling from Puerto Rico, Florida, South Carolina, Connecticut, and California, asking me if I was ok. I found some snow underneath a tree that was shaded and took a picture. The response from them all was laughter because they were fooled. They were told how bad it was and were shown what the situation was like. The point of finding what it was like for the inhabitants is key to finding the truth.

The same is valid with the Texas freeze that happened at the beginning of 2021. This storm was more significant than the one in 2017, and rightfully so. Nonetheless, I was fine. I did not lose power, had food to eat, and didn’t miss a warm meal. I could simply chalk it up to being lucky, or I could say that the knowledge I had from living in a place with harsh weather like snow/ice gave me the tools to be better equipped. The knowledge I had in the Northeast could be used in the south too. So the news was right to report that many people were suffering and dealing with less-than-ideal situations. We also had some deaths due to the lack of knowledge and wisdom. Those could have been avoided, but some people died since people were fed a steady dose of fear and not knowledge/understanding.

Our society has immobilized people from taking action and seeking solutions and preventions. I come from a long line of healthcare workers who have made a career and profession working in Hospitals and Nursing homes. I was fortunate enough to work in a Nursing home for six years myself. I had and still have the inside scoop on what happens in hospitals. This whole COVID-19 pandemic is no pandemic to me. The exact amount of Covid related deaths that occurred cannot be accounted for. They are just labeled under this to push an agenda. Yes, some people died due to the COVID virus, but how many died in 2020 with the flu? If you look at the numbers provided by Scientific American, you will see the discrepancy. Simply put, COVID was enough reason to scare people to give up their freedoms. I could not imagine writing an article that would scare people to live anything but their best life.

I understand why the news leans on the side of pessimism vs. optimism. The simple reason is that the human mind is naturally pessimistic. That makes it easier for mainstream media to promote fear-based agendas because we are primed and ready for it. Even if we do all the training and work needed to become resilient, it is not enough. It is difficult to go against human nature and evolution. Dealing with our mindset is not as simple as saying you will get in shape, and it happens. We have to address the multiple levels of the mind to promote lasting change.

Create your own belief

Even after all I said, you should still have your own belief on several matters. For that, I say good! You should see faith in what you want to believe. That is freedom at its lowest level. You can choose how you want to feel and think about it. Though it can be manipulated, it should be up to you to continue with that thought process or change it. If the life you have now is perfect and you would not change a thing, then, by all means, keep on living your life. What I do as a Life Coach is to help people get the life they desire. I find that people like to dream but not implement action toward that dream. I say dream on, but do not expect much if no plan is implemented.

The courage to challenge yourself comes from your beliefs. If you have an idea that you can do difficult or scary things, you will be more primed for success for a good reason. This is true in the world of news media and government. They will tell you something, and it is up to you to conclude with what they share with you. The government has many secrets, and I am sure for a good reason. However, if they have something to hide, why would they tell us the whole truth?  That is why I encourage people to find their truth. If you want to follow someone blindly, you can do so, but human nature has not evolved to follow blindly.

Since the beginning of our species, people would band together for survival. Life is easier when people work together. Imagine if you have to build your house alone. Yes, it is possible, but you would have to have a skill set and the time needed to make the home. What would you eat while building the house? If you were in charge of your food procurement, it adds another difficulty to survival. That is why people live in communities where we can trade for goods/resources. You would not want to be in a community or relationship where you are the only one who provides AND does all the work while others sit and watch you. If that is the case, why would you not demand to be a part of a system that helps you rather than limit and destroy what you have built?

Ask yourself, is this belief going to help me get the life I aspire to have?

The life you aspire to have is “normal,” right? Getting back to your complacent life where you fall into the system is what most people view as their norm for a good reason. What is stopping that freedom? Are you the victim? I assure you that no citizen wants to take away your freedom, but the government is another story. I recall when the first Lockdown & Quarantines were implemented here in the USA. We were told that we could flatten the curve in two weeks and after that, three months. This went on for a year and a half. Do you know how many lives were ruined due to the lockdowns? Of course not because that is no concern of yours. As long as you and your family are set, you could care less about the person in another state you know nothing about.

Simply allowing an entity the power over life and death should be no power they should have over you. How would you feel if I told you what job you had to do for the rest of your life? To top it off, you hate the work the job entails. However, you must do your part for society and be an excellent listener to live everyday life. That is what you were fed and believed into. You gave up your freedom and life and stayed inside for what exactly? The world closed down, but the bills didn’t stop. Now people must work to get back to where they were after being knocked down.

Now with the New COVID Variants, people are wearing masks again and are afraid to contract this virus. Is being scared going to help you get the life you want? Perhaps wearing a mask will help you stay healthy to work towards your dream life, but I can post articles about that to prove a point; at the end of the day, a safety blanket is a safety blanket. People need to feel safe, so do what you think will keep you safe at the end of the day. However, I want you to pay attention to the world and the same people telling you what precautions to take. They ask you not to have a large gathering and wear a mask, yet we have the same people crying wolf doing the opposite.

When we look at all the lives affected by this COVID-19 outbreak, I cannot help but look at the other end of the stick used to beat people into submission. Who got rich with this COVID-19 Vaccine? The New York Times reported that Pfizer brought in 3.5 Billion dollars in revenue from the Covid vaccine. Most Americans are not taught taxes and government policy in schools as to how their tax dollars will be used or who funds the government.

The “government’s money” to procure the “vaccine” is money you paid the government in taxes. So you just paid a company billions of dollars for something that doesn’t even work. If money were a motivator for me, I would be in the field of creating things that do not work for gullible people who respond to fear instead of logic. Your hard-working tax dollars went into a vaccine that doesn’t even protect you fully. If you are waiting for your share of Pfizer’s vaccine profit, join the line. It is absurd how we are so easily fooled to make other people wealthy but live in scarcity ourselves.

Let’s start to point out the obvious when it comes to news. The exact number of 3.5 comes up frequently for a reason. People ignore things that are common and normal. For example, if you are driving down the street and see a group of people walking on the sidewalk, you might not notice them or pay them any mind. Now, if you put that same group of people on the sidewalk with Trump flags or BLM flags, then you will start to pay them more attention. That is because of a fear response in your body that activates to be on standby to keep you safe if the need arises. Going back to numbers 3.5 tells us that Pfizer’s revenue was 3.5 billion, and the bill that the Democrats are trying to pass is 3.5 Trillion.

That number was not used by mistake. It is to make us accustomed to an agenda on the unconscious level in our minds. Some people call this brainwashing; I call this a New World Order takeover. We have been told a lie since we were young students in the school system. That lie is if we work hard and be good boys/girls, then maybe we can have a good life. Last time I checked, working hard can produce significant benefits for a person. However, if you are working hard for a company or a government that receives all the profit before it touches your hands, you are a cog in the system.

In closing, you have to decide for yourself what you truly desire in life at some point. If you are ok being ostracized and taken advantage of, then you don’t have to do much more than you are doing right now. However, if you want more out of life and choose to go against the grain, it is vital to understand the Tools of Knowledge. It is your responsibility to find the truth in a world of opinion. You do not have to take my word for anything, but I am on your side in the attainment of the best life possible for you. I will not give it to you because you will just squander it away. If you do not learn how to be successful and gain the knowledge/skill for growth, you will continually fall short of your dreams. However, if you are serious about progression in life, then schedule a life coaching session today.

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of Reven Concepts