By Lauren V. Macaraeg #LaurenMacDoodles
Make Facebook our PraiseBook. 💻📱🌞❤️😻🎵✏️ We can use social media to make a positive impact in small, simple ways. Through our posts, we can thank God and other people, spread good vibes and hope, and even simply ask for prayers and understanding during the times when we don’t have any good vibes and hope to spare and share.
1. We can thank God and other people through social media. I admit that it’s sometimes easier to focus on the negative side of life than the positive side, as we can see from the rants and complaints that sometimes flood our newsfeed or even from the private negative thoughts that sometimes flood our minds. Writing down the things we are grateful for is an effective way to consciously develop a thankful attitude. While it’s a good idea to keep a personal thanksgiving journal, it’s also a great idea to occasionally share with others the things we are thankful for, whether we post about them on our timeline or our messaging chat groups. We can show our appreciation for God and the people in our lives through our words and pictures. We can share about some of the amazing ways that God has touched our hearts and worked in our lives. We can also share about the various ways our family, friends and even strangers made our lives better and brighter. Some of my reflection posts are actually my thank-you letters to the Lord. Some of my online photo albums are actually my thank-you letters to my family and friends (letters with matching visual aids hehe. As a visual person, pictures help me to remember events and moments. And to write about them!). There are so many things to be thankful for, ranging from the invisible yet important blessings like love, concern, kindness, health, friendship and time to tangible, physical blessings like gifts and food (yum! Lol). Yes, it does take time and effort to create appreciation posts. But life is short so it’s important to express what we want to say to others, right here, right now. In our fast-paced world where it’s so easy to take people and even God for granted after all they’ve done for us, it’s worth taking a moment to say “Thank you”.
2. We can spread good vibes and hope through social media. We can do this by sharing our reflections and realizations about life. We each have our own unique experiences and point of view which make each of us worth listening to. But we don’t necessarily have to talk about deep, spiritual things all the time (ang boring naman kung laging ganun lol). We can also brighten other people’s day simply by posting about positive things, ranging from funny, cute or heartwarming stuff to interesting, instructive and informative tidbits. While I do feel encouraged when I read insightful devotionals and messages, I am also cheered up when I read or watch random posts about cats, gadgets, technology, dancing, arts and crafts, food (yum!), and so much more. When I was still highly active on social media, I occasionally posted some of my thoughts and reflections on life, love and family… but I also shared random stories about my wacky daily adventures (I miss writing about crazy stuff… though I’m not sure if others miss reading about my kabaliwan hahaha). Whether we encourage many people or just one person through our posts (and even if that one person is your own self!), it’s worth taking a moment to share about the things that helped us to smile, laugh or learn so we can help others smile, laugh or learn too.
3. We can ask for prayers and understanding during the times when we just don’t have any good vibes and hope to spare and share, with the help of social media. To be realistic, life isn’t always about sunshine and rainbows. To put it bluntly, life sucks sometimes. And we don’t have to pretend to be happy and cheerful when we’re not. During these times, we can simply ask for prayers, consideration, and sometimes even help, from others. I know this may not be easy for private persons like us who are more comfortable with sharing about their struggles and problems only with the people closest to us on a regular basis (Yes, I’m a private person! I know it’s not obvious since I used to be very active on social media. But even back then, I usually just shared about social events since I was the unofficial photographer in my family and friend groups. Even when I shared about personal experiences, it was usually about positive things, not because I am denying the negative things that are part of my life, but simply because I don’t see the point sa pagdamay ng iba sa mga problema ko unless absolutely necessary). Still, it’s worth a try to open up to others from time to time. It helps to occasionally update others about how we are doing so they can understand – or at least be aware of – our current situation (It can also help us avoid unnecessary worrying and misunderstandings! Ang daming nag-alala sa akin last year when I suddenly took a long social media break without explaining why. Some concerned friends and relatives were seriously wondering if I still was alive lol. Sorry naman po haha! Thankfully, I was able to explain eventually that I needed a social media break while I am seeking physical, spiritual and mental healing). And of course, it helps to occasionally request for prayers, especially when we are facing major problems, since prayer is powerful (I can literally write an entire book about the answered prayers I’ve witnessed in my life). Finally, we might even be surprised when people can occasionally relate to us even when we are at our lowest. Perhaps people are sometimes heartened when they realize that they are not the only ones going through a particular problem or challenge. Yung malaman nilang hindi sila nag-iisa. While it’s worth taking the time to update others about our situation or to request for prayers and consideration, we should only do so if we are comfortable with it. At the end of the day, I am thankful that God always places a few key people in our lives who care enough for us to pray for us and understand us, whether we ask them to do so through social media or not.
To be honest, I sometimes wish I could go back to the good old simple days when I was not involved in social media at all. One of the reasons why I suddenly took an extended social media break recently is because I wanted to recreate those days when my life was all about the real world and real-life interaction. And because I needed space to breathe. Yet in spite of all the annoyances and complications that social media can bring into our lives, I have no regrets going online the past several years, since I also experienced how social media can help us connect with people, especially those with whom we would have no communication with otherwise. I’m especially thankful for social media’s potential to reach out to others in small, simple ways, especially now that I have been minimizing my real-life social activities during the past year (and counting!) as part of my #Live4Infinity #LifeProject healing journey. While I still believe real-life interaction is still the best (and I always will), social media can also help us maintain our connection to other people in its own unique way. In some cases, it’s the only way, at least for the meantime. So while I am still not as active on social media as I used to be, I will still try in my own limited way to say thanks to God and others (kahit na laging late post ako lol. Better late than never!), to share hope and cheer (and craziness!), and simply to share life updates and prayer requests when I have no hope and cheer to share (but I will always have craziness to share lol), when I do pop up online from time to time.
Thank you to everyone for the hope, understanding, patience, love, kindness, prayers, and even the crazy laughter, that you have all shared with me, both through real life and social media over the years. See you around on PraiseBook!
– Meowhugs from Lauren, Mama Uni and Cutie the Cat. 🌳❤️😻🐈💃
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“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1)
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#Live4Infinity #LifeProject #Doodles by #LaurenVMacaraeg #LaurenMacDoodles 🌟 : “MAKE FACEBOOK OUR PRAISEBOOK” (#LaurenMacDoodles #DoodleArt created on March 14, 2019). Written on 03.14.2019. 💻📱🌞❤️😻🎵✏️
#PraiseBook #SocialMedia #GiveThanks #GiveHope #GivePrayer #Thanksgiving #Hope #Prayer #PrayerRequest
#SocialBreak #SocialMediaBreak #Extended #Healing #Recovery #Honesty #Openness #Patience #Consideration #Understanding #Talikogenic
#ProjectHEAL: #SocialBreak #SocialMediaBreak #Honesty #Openness #Catharsis #Forgiveness #ThankYou #Love #MyFavoriteThings #Pink #Cats #Kittens #Outdoors #Fitness #HappyAwkwardDance #Zumba
#ProjectTIME: #Family #Friends #MeTime #SelfDate #ADateWithMyself #LaurenAndMamu #MamaUniAndMe #MamaAndMe #CutieTheCat #Cutie #Cuteings #Love #LoveIsSpelledTIME #GodWithUs 🐈🐱😻❤️👸👧💃
To Follow Later On When I Get Better: #ProjectPICMIRACLE #ProjectTHANKYOU #ProjectHELLO
#MentalHealthAwareness #Healing #Recovery #MentalHealth
#LaurenMacScribbles #LaurenMacKulit #KidsAtHeart #AmazingGrace
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Read more about my Live4Infinity Life Project at my official accounts.💻📱🌞❤️😻🎵✏️
