Seeds

Is anyone else watching Married to Medicine? I missed last season ;however, I plan to watch the foolwangery this year. *covers head in shame*  I cannot look away from train wrecks. *shrugs shoulders*

However the show got me thinking.

When the show premiered last year, there was a lot negative press associated with it. A couple of students and alumni in my medical school started a petition to have the show boycotted citing that the show perpetuated negative stereotypes. Of course, Bravo TV  was not going to stop their money train because of a few disgruntled people in the medical community. I really did not understand what the whole hullabaloo was at that point. Now I realize the show was/is more dangerous than I realized.
Every thing we watch, hear and read sows a seed in our heart and mind. These seeds take root ( make a foundation), germinate and grow.  When the seed grows into a plant it produces more seeds.  The bible puts it aptly with “ out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6 vs 45)”

My classmates were rightfully angry that another negative seed was being sown into the hearts of millions of people. This could have been set up for positive portrayal of a story that is seldom  told. The story of  black female physicians with black male physicians and their wives. I went to a medical school that is not representative of how few minorities there are in medicine. Do not underestimate how dangerous these portrayals are. To me each is a single alphabet of a word in a sentence that says  black people are a certain way.
If you are told something or shown something or read something often enough, without having valuable insight, you will begin to believe it.

That is why I started taking more concerted steps to watch what I allow into me. I wont lie to you and say I listen to Christian radio and tv 24/7. To be frank, there is an inauthentic portrayal of Christianity that I feel Christian radio purports that I dislike. However, I noticed that despite the positives in my life I was prone to swings in my emotion and moods. Instead of “riding it out” or dismissing it as my normal disposition I began to wonder why. It dawned on me , definitely from revelation from the holy spirit, that I was allowing negative seeds to be sown in my life.

I watch entirely too much ratchet reality tv to be considered healthy .

 If all I watched was strife, hate, rudeness, meanness and people being downright evil to each other then it isn't surprising that I was moody, snappy, critical and mean. I wasn't suddenly going to be speaking blessings to my fellow brother when I wasn't reading, watching and hearing blessings.

I cannot lie and say I have stopped all ratchet reality tv (everyone has to have a little vice J).  These people are utterly ridiculous and  put them selves out there. It’s like a crash on the highway, you cant help but slow down . However, I have drastically cut back. I have gone on television fasts where I abstain from television for a few days.  I replaced the inane pop songs I listened to on radio and replaced with christian messages. I can definitely say there has been an improvement in my emotional health. I am not mother Theresa now but I am not giving everyone within a one mile radius of me a mean side eye.

Well most of the time I am not. J