As the pandemic stretches into its 20th month, the mental and physical strain of it all has certainly taken its toll on our ability to sustain a life of peace, happiness, and positivity.
As we wind down 2021, (hard to believe we are already saying that), paving your own individual path to a more positive, uplifting life within a ‘new’ world, is crucial to sustaining your inner peace and happiness.
And that path is most certainly not linear. It has bumps, curves, sharp turns, and at times, roadblocks that are seemingly impossible to overcome. (No pun intended)
But when you hold your faith and your belief in yourself close to your heart, amazing things can manifest in your life. You eventually realize your purpose. You will get that clarity that you have been yearning for, for so long.
Having inner peace and living with positive energy is central to living a purposeful life, and I’ve summed it up in three forms: lifestyle changes, uplifting human interactions, and social media.
Change Your Habits, Change Your Life
Positive lifestyle changes can do wonders for restoring your inner peace. Changes such as cutting back on unhealthy habits, being more physically active, or making better financial decisions, like resisting the urge to buy that expensive sweater that you don’t really need. Any baby step or action that helps you in your own progression in life is a win and will create room for more positivity to filter in.
You’ll generally feel better about yourself (physically and mentally), you’ll minimize your anxiety and stress levels, and you’ll just ‘glow differently’, as they say.
Manifesting Your Tribe
People play a major role in our quest for overall peace and happiness. Throughout our lives, we meet and interact with all kinds of people on a regular basis: whether it’s our own family, friends, schoolmates, colleagues, acquaintances, or complete strangers. Every interaction has taught important life lessons and has helped shape our path and who we are today.
Living peacefully and with purpose also means acknowledging and accepting that you are not meant to be compatible with everyone you meet. We are all inherently different and unique and will naturally gravitate to other like-minded souls, but we should always remain well-intentioned for others, no matter the degree of the connection.
The people you do feel a deeper connection with inevitably find their way into your life. Your energies will align and you’ll feel a sense of peace in their presence and vice versa. Someone who gets you and you get them. Someone that supports you on your journey and uplifts you along the way. These connections are not a dime a dozen and should be handled with the utmost love and care. Fostering positive connections is all about quality over quantity.
Social Media – A Vehicle for Positivity
In a world of immense digital saturation, that is now our norm, social media now plays a pivotal role in making positive connections and exuding peaceful energy through different mediums. It’s truly astounding how a small device, like our cellphones, can keep us connected with, quite literally, the entire world at any given time.
We know social media can have a dark side if abused and used for the wrong reasons, but it can also be a wonderful space to promote and circulate positivity and peace.
Social media has also inevitably given birth to a new form of communication: emojilese. Yes, I made this word up, but you get my drift. I feel like I should insert an actual emoji here but I’m not on a compatible device to do so. *shrugs*
These days you don’t even have to type words to express yourself but can share your thoughts and emotions via an instant reaction to an Instagram story or a line of emojis in a comment on a post. But, whatever the form of communication, you’re still digitally connecting with people that are mutually feeding off of your energy.
The Rise of the Insta-Buddy and Twitterverse
It’s no secret that social media has also become a great avenue to virtually ‘meet’ people that share common interests. My blog is a testament to this. I’ve connected with some amazing souls through my writing over the years, whom, if I had the opportunity to meet in person, it would feel like we’ve known each other our whole lives. It truly is a special connection.
Social media is also a great way to keep in touch with kind, good people that we may have met/interacted with at some point in the past, but our lives have gone in different directions and we are simply better suited as insta-buddies – enabling the connection through photo-sharing, likes, the occasional DM, and, of course, the emoji-led interaction with a story.
Another example of fostering positivity online is by creating a channel centered around an interest or hobby you feel passionate about. I find that Twitter is a great medium for this.
I am a long-time fan of the soap opera The Young and the Restless and enjoy casually bantering about the show. I created a Twitter feed earlier this year that is exclusively geared towards the show. By mutually following other fans, I built a small community with the same enthusiasm for the show where we can light-heartedly gossip and banter about the latest storylines. And what’s great about this feed is that it is devoid of any negativity. Everyone is respectful, even if they don’t agree with your opinion.
Words of Enlightenment
You cannot log into any major platform without seeing words of wisdom all around you and dozens of accounts dedicated to positivity, motivation, and inspiration. The hashtags #MondayMotivation, #TuesdayThoughts, #WednesdayWisdom are regularly trending. Social media is swirling with positive sentiment in every direction.
I want to highlight a few accounts in particular that I follow: they are great sources for regular motivational and uplifting content. (Note: there are tons more, of course, but these are just particularly noteworthy for me).
Xavier Keyz – Xavier Keyz is a talented, Chicago-based, musical artist whose page I stumbled upon a few years ago and his Twitter feed is a constant stream of motivational words that often hit deep on so many levels.
Faith Broussard Case – Faith is a mental health advocate, author and humanitarian. Her Instagram page is filled with motivational and inspirational words of wisdom that often speak right to me and likely will to you.
Ordinarily Extraordinary Mom – Brittany is a vibrant blogger mom whom I had the pleasure of ‘meeting’ through my own blog a few years ago. She has a light that always shines and her daily stories surrounding faith continue to uplift and inspire me.
Peaceful Barb – Barb Schmidt is an author and seeker for truth and inner peace (as her IG bio states), and that is exactly what her page is all about. Barb, like the above-mentioned advocates for positivity, has a way with words that seem to speak right to you.
I strongly encourage you to follow any or all of these accounts to get a regular dose of wisdom and enlightenment to help you on your journey.
In closing, living a more positive, peaceful and purposeful life is a constant journey – not a means to an end. As the Law of Attraction states, what you put out is what will come back to you. It’s a state of mind and lifestyle that must ultimately come from within, but once you’ve completely embodied a life filled with peace, patience, and purpose, you won’t know any other reality.
Sarah Warsi 