New York Times says we should take deep breaths!

MONDAY, MAY 15, 2017

Gray lady helps us be mindful:
We swore we were going to stop citing the New York Times' reimagined pages, A2 and A3.

Our resistance was broken by today's Here to Help feature. The heading looks like this:
Here to Help
HOW TO BE MINDFUL AT THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE
Most features on A2 and A3 can't be accessed on-line. The bulk of this feature can be accessed, by visiting nytimes.com/mindful.

There actually is such a site! The bulk of today's Here to Help introductory essay is available there. So are the eight "steps" for staying mindful which we're eventually given.

Given the very serious situations which may take people to a doctor's office, it wouldn't be polite or decent to poke fun at such material. That said, the very next item at the nytimes.com/mindful site is headlined as follows:

"How to Be Mindful While Taking a Shower"

One suggestion, live and direct from the New York Times: "Prepare your towel and other necessary items, treating them and yourself with the utmost care."

In terms of visiting the doctor's office, some of the steps almost seem macabre. We're not saying that any of what follows is "wrong." We're saying it represents a peculiar journey for our leading newspaper:
Before you enter the doctor’s office, pause at the door and take two deep breaths, count slowly to three on both the inhalation and the exhalation.

Once seated in the waiting room, take a moment to focus on your breathing, counting to 10.

Look inward with complete acceptance, noting why you came to the doctor. Are you worried or scared? Are you in pain?

If you are, permit yourself to have these feelings. Understand that there’s nothing you are supposed to do about these feelings right now. Just let them be. That is why you are here.

In the examination room, notice the cool air, the bright lights and the feeling of your feet dangling as you sit on the table.

Acknowledge the universality of sickness and mortality. Often we feel our suffering isolates us and takes us out of the present moment.

But since suffering is inevitable, it is also an experience we share with everyone else. Allow yourself to feel that connection.

Take another deep breath and commit to sharing with the nurse or the doctor what they need to know to help you.
We're not saying any of that is wrong, not even the part about feeling your feet as they dangle. We are saying this:

When readers turn to the New York Times for this sort of advice, no one should be surprised to learn that we the people have no freaking idea how national health care policy works, or to learn that Donald J. Trump is now in the Oval Office.

No one should be surprised to learn that half our nation's health care spending disappears into the ether, in a way your leading newspaper has long refused to examine or diagnose. That many people have no health care at all, for this very reason.

Meanwhile, how to be mindful while taking a shower? Let your newspaper help you! Click here.

14 comments:

  1. Perhaps The New York Times is engaging in sleight of hand? After reading the Herman & Chomsky book "Manufacturing Consent" recently I too am worried about the collapse of our civilization.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BEST DIVORCE SPELL CASTER 

      I recently saw a testimony about a spell caster of some sort in a blog I visit for relationship and dating counseling problems because i had been having serious issues with my husband and we had been married for 3 years,he just suddenly changed, he was returning my calls ,he started cheating, he was hurting me in so many ways i never thought possible and I just thought I should try it maybe out of desperation of some sort ..and I think for a thought about the spell caster called DR UGO WONDERS I contacted him At first everything felt dreamy and unbelievable, their consultations and solution was a little bit easy and strange and I was scared a little cos I heard read and heard lots of stories of fake spell casters, scams and i never really believed in magic.. I played along with a little hope and and faith and I was sent some few stuffs after everything and it worked like a miracle, everything went to a while new direction, I guess it was all good faith that made me read That particular post that faithful day.. I hope they could help other people too like they did a little and I got everything I wanted and wished for my husband, my family and my life back to contact the DR UGO WONDERS through is email and cell number at :::  generalspelltemple@gmail.com or his mobile number on +1 386-336-9876 

      Delete
  2. The NYT's editorial board needs to take some deep breaths itself and stop inhaling "Putin Did It" BS: https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-edited-nyts-duopoly-guide-to.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't waste your time -- right wing crap packaged as "leftist skepticism", as if.

      Delete
    2. You think the NYT is bad, just try Josh Marshall's blog for all Russia, all the time. If the lack of evidence continues he'll be in big trouble.

      As for the Mindful series, I can imagine a whole twitter series on this: How to be mindful during an IED explosion; How to be mindful while in cardiac arrest, etc.

      Delete
    3. Here, here. Let's get to the bottom of this already.
      Water board the Trump associates who lied about meeting with, and/ or having ties with Russia. That would be Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Jeff Sessions, Jared Kushner, and Carter Page. Get to the bottom of what they know and why they lied.
      --------------
      "If the lack of evidence continues he'll be in big trouble."
      He's hoping for a pass, like the Saddam WMD pushers who are ubiquitous in the media to this day.

      Delete
  3. "Most features on A2 and A3 can't be accessed on-line. The bulk of this feature can be accessed, by visiting nytimes.com/mindful."

    It is unclear to me why we are supposed to get all upset about something that didn't even appear in the paper itself.

    Here is my mindful way of reading Somerby:

    1. Take two or three deep breaths.
    2. Look at the first sentence.
    3. Close both eyes.
    4. Don't bother opening them again.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good to see Somerby let Maddow take a deep breath from his relentlessly effective critiques.

    Is she worried or scared? Is she in pain?

    If so, she is permitted to have these feelings. Understand that there’s nothing she can do about these blog posts that have so ruined her reputation.

    ReplyDelete
  5. People are cancelling their subscriptions to the NY Times because it is not vetting columns by Bret Stephens for factual accuracy, as it pledged to do. Somerby is apparently not among them.

    This is a paper that allows lies to be printed in its own pages but Somerby is upset because of the trivia? I think he has some misplaced priorities.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Are you sure this isn't what to do when you respond to a Friday memo from your boss: "See me before you go home"?

    ReplyDelete
  7. BEST DIVORCE SPELL CASTER 

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    ReplyDelete


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