Living peacefully doesn’t mean that you walk around with your head in the clouds, seeing the sun before the rain. It doesn’t mean you walk around the halls skipping, oblivious to the negativity and hardships that life throws at you.
Living peacefully means that you are aware of your surroundings, that you know how to embrace your emotions — that you have the upmost respect for yourself, even in your darkest days. Living peacefully, in my opinion, is all about reflection.
But what exactly is reflection? In the literal sense, you could see reflection as an amount of light, heat, or sound that is replicated by a body or surface. But in a philosophical sense, it is all about serious thought and consideration — a thought, belief or idea about something that eventually reaches a conclusion.
It is in my experience that humans measure their failures with the toughest of rulers, and often overlook how they have grown from a situation.
For example, whenever I get really irate, I often let myself become fully submerged within that anger, saying things I do not necessarily mean and doing things that I would not normally do.
But when I look back on that experience, do I think I am a bad person? No. I realize that I am human and that I am allowed to think and feel the way I want. That does not, however, mean that I do not take on the full consequences or responsibility of my actions.
On the flip side, when something in my life makes me happy, I let that happiness consume me, and realize why it makes me happy and try to truly appreciate the moment.
Do I fail to appreciate and see the beauty in the beautiful and the gloomy in the dark days life throws at me? Yes. But I do not judge myself for it, because I have come to terms and appreciate what true reflection can give me.
It is, however, in those moments of lapsed time when happiness, anger, or sadness can escape you, turning into just a blurred line on the page — which is why I believe reflection is a crucial part of our existence.
Reflection has become my safe haven, my teacher and my objectivity.
It is important to reflect on the things you have done, so you are both aware you have done them, and aware of how you can change your actions in the future. Reflection is all about personal growth, which can cross over into many aspects of our lives.
Living peacefully doesn’t mean you are living your life through rose-colored glasses, but rather accepting those rose-colored glasses, along with the broken ones that exist to make your life whole.