A friend of mine once said to me "wherever there is happiness, you can be sure love was there first."

By the same token, experiences of sadness, injustice, violence, discrimination and anger that seem to abound also started out as a lack of love. The main antidote then, in my view, is for us to relentlessly and creatively find ways to nourish love back into our world. With that in mind, three months ago I launched a campaign called #LiveLove no matter what as an invitation for us to do precisely that, to live love, to breathe love, to celebrate love, to speak of love, to sing of love and to love love.

Meditation, specifically morning meditation, is also an accessible way to #LiveLove. By starting the day focusing on our breath, we give ourselves a chance to step back from repetitive thought patterns, especially the destructive ones. On particularly tumultuous periods, I can hear some of those loud and disturbing thoughts. I acknowledge them and then I consciously replace them with a thought that is more aligned with the day I'm wanting to live. It's a simple step but there's a lot of love involved.

Another effective way that I have found to #LiveLove is to give myself mini-breaks throughout the day when I treat myself to something physical that makes me happy. My favorite treat is to dance. Sometimes I go for a short walk. It could even be that during my mini-break I finally realize I need to go to the restroom. I like to do something physical because I have a tendency to get stuck in a rational mode that leaves little to no space for love. By extending awareness to my body, I can recognize love when it comes my way and express it freely.

I also believe guarding our thoughts from negativity is crucial if we are to stop adding to the existing hostility in our world which is in itself an important way to #LiveLove. Turning off the television is an efficient way not to nourish destructive thoughts. In addition, with social media, we can now choose to broadcast little bits and pieces of hope, love and compassion through stories of people, like you and me, who believe in those things. Simple choices like watching movies that warm our hearts, listening to music that calms our soul, being selective of the thoughts we invite into our heads and meditating can play a decisive role in our ability to nourish love. After all, society – local or global – is nothing but a sum of all individuals that make it up. When individuals like you and I decide to #LiveLove, there is no stopping us. Cheers to love!

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