I'm going to discuss faith here for a moment. It is your choice to read the following and I completely understand if it doesn't make you comfortable. I'm not here to preach but after having had several conversations recently about faith, in the lead up to the Christian festival of Easter, I thought I'd let you in on a little bit more of what makes me tick.

I often make remarks about positive energy on here, or my social media platforms and to me positive energy is the number one defining factor about me. It encompasses all of my life and without it I would be a completely different person.

I don't see myself connected to or driven by any one particular religion. I was raised Roman Catholic but for several years now I have not been able to commit myself to this or to another other one religion. I am inspired by the values and the sentiment of many and tend to pick and choose amongst a variety to harness my own positive energy.

I have faith in what is good.
I have faith in the good of people.
I have faith that I am never alone.
I have faith in my own choices.

I don't have faith in karma.
I don't have faith in fate.

I have found that the above six statements have brought me more profound joy, positivity and calm than any one religion ever has. I remind myself of these statements when I'm having a less than perfect day, when I feel the weight of negativity weighing down on me. I meditate, at least two or three times a week. I also pull back from confrontation whenever possible so that I can assess my response before letting it out into the universe. I have found that this frustrates some people, but others show an understanding and don't push me. I have found that This Guy and I are similar this way and it means that we don't fight. Literally, we don't fight. We discuss and when it feels like it may escalate we give one another space until its time to come back to the table with a solution to our original problem.

This is not to say that I don't get frustrated with people. I do. Often.

I have just, over time, learnt to manage my frustrations. I can recall having once been the person that stressed about every little thing but now I assess more than stress. I assess the worth of my frustration. I vent, healthily, with due cause. Then I let it go, what fuelled my frustration becomes a thing of the past and I let it rest. I surround myself with people who do the same.

I admit I am pulled stronger towards Hindu practices but I can not see myself committing to this religion as my own beliefs don't completely align with that of this religion. Same goes to Buddhism, Islamism and Catholicism. I commend those who can commit to a religion, those who have such strong faith in a deity, an afterlife, or whatever it may be. They are truly inspired.

Personally, I don't have that faith. I can't commit myself and when I stopped trying to search for my religion, I found that I was happier. I let go of this expectation that I follow a particular group or philosophy. The most significant memory I have of this was when I decided that there was no way that karma existed, at least not karma the way i imagined it. I know that there are many who would disagree, this is my personal belief. To me, believing in karma was only holding me back. I was relying on the universe to shoot down the bad guy, the one who had caused my pain or grief. I wasn't relying on myself and in doing so I was letting myself down. Now, I try my hardest to either avoid or deter the negative vices of this world. Unfortunately the most draining negative vice the world has to offer, is other people, and this is sometimes more difficult than others.

I don't believe in toxic people. I believe in negative energy and so every time I encounter someone who appears negative I do what I can to uplift them so that our encounter doesn't become a negative one. Here again I am taking charge of my own positive energy and putting it before anything, or anyone else. There have been people who scrutinise me. People have called me selfish for admitting to putting myself first. Others have called me a hippy or asked what drug I'm on. I'm not on any drug sir, I just don't deserve to have this negative energy pushed onto me and for my own sake I'm trying to turn your attitude around. I strongly believe that if everyone took more ownership over how they felt themselves, and made themselves accountable for that, the world would be so much more positive in nature.

My closest friends would probably read this and think they wrote it because we come together with the common denominator that we are in charge of our own happiness.

The way I operate is to give friends, family and colleagues the tools required to uplift themselves and their own attitude. To be in control of your own attitude really is the most amazing gift in life. This is what makes me tick. I am accountable for my own attitude. I am not responsible for the attitude of others.

I have faith in what is good. I have faith in the good of people. I have faith that I am never alone. I have faith in my own choices. I don't have faith in karma. I don't have faith in fate.

So this Easter season I will be celebrating a religious tradition with This Guy, not because we have Catholic tendancies, but because this festival promotes love and new life. Two things I think are definitely worth celebrating. Any festival that promotes love and giving thanks I'm all for.

Bikini from Triangl 
Photo by Jarrod Bateman

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