Peace, Love, & Happiness is the Cure we all Need

As the end of 2020 nears, after President Donald J. Trump, Jr. was defeated by former Vice President Joe Biden, and the first Female, Black, Asian-Jamaican woman were elected to lead in 2021 how are you finding Peace, Love & Happiness?  How are you showing Peace, Love, & Happiness to yourself and others? My family’s quest to find peace, love, & happiness after our loved one, a victim of domestic violence, was murdered by her husband is how we turned our lemons into lemonade.

If you are struggling and juggling all your lemons and are uncertain about how best to turn your 2020 lemons into lemonade allow me to share some thoughts on how you can turn what you thought was a bad dream into a glass half full of sweet lemonade.

The clock struck midnight and 2020 was welcomed with screams, cheers, jeers, bottles popping, people laughing, crying, and kissing; less than 60 days later the world as we know it began to turn upside down.  Wuhan China, coronavirus – where and what is that? Days passed, diagnosis increased, hospitals began to fill up, parents and grandparents in nursing homes started dying at alarming rates and a pandemic was declared.  

Fast forward March 2020, Cardi-B said it best “Coronavirus, this shit is real!” But, the President of the United States said “it is a hoax, China did it! It is going to go away; we will be turning the corner.”  Doctors and Scientist said, “wear a mask, social distance.” Restaurants, movies, gyms, companies closed, cities shut down, people are dying, buried alone with no loved ones, unemployment rates the highest since the Great Depression.  Fear and the politics of politics take over and the search for a cure begins…

There is no vaccine and there does not seem to be a cure! The cure that we know worked when we were faced with extreme loss and despair, when answers were few – the answer for us - was finding Peace, Love, & Happiness.  Why Peace, Love, & Happiness?  Peace is freedom from disturbance and tranquility.  Finding peace within, peace at home, peace in life, peace while parents are forced to home school their children, social distancing, and staying coronavirus free are reasons why finding peace within can be the calm within the storm.  Love is an intense feeling of deep affection.  Love for yourself, love for others, love for your enemies, and love for mankind is the balance to your peace. Loving yourself is integral to being able to love others while maintaining civility when you are surrounded by things that have no resemblance to peace or love.  Happiness is used in the context of mental or emotional states, including positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. You get the call you are included in staff reductions, you have not received a stimulus payment, bills are due, schoolwork is due, you are scheduled for your 3^rd zoom of the day, dinner still needs to be prepared, you have no toilet paper, no sanitizer, no Lysol, no reason to smile or be happy; or so you think… Happiness comes at 5:30 a.m. when you hear the alarm going off, the sun is shining, no one you know has been diagnosed with coronavirus or died this week, you and your children have food to eat, and your internet is working. The intense joy and contentment you feel is happiness in 2020.  On December 31, 2019; 11:59 p.m. these may not have been reasons for you to be happy.  Finding Peace, Love, & Happiness can sometimes be as simple as having the things and people in our lives that we took for granted. 

When my family and I experienced the pain of losing our loved one we chose to turn lemons into lemonade by spreading Peace+Love all over the world. Peace+Love offers a palatable way for each of us to show and express Peace, Love, & Happiness to each other; because we are what we wear. Expressing yourself through what you wear is a perfect way to speak without saying a word; all while quietly doing something to change the lives of others.  Peace+Love is a brand that invokes joy, comfort, and care. A portion of the proceeds of purchases made at www.weneedpeaceandlove.com benefits victims of domestic violence, autism, and social justice.  This holiday season find peace, love, & happiness within and give the gift that keeps on giving.  Peace, Love, & Happiness!