How should we carry ourselves? How is our behaviour in our day to day lives?
There is as with most things a balance between showing off and hiding away.
Peacocking is a term that is generally used to refer to a man's behaviour in attempt to impress a woman. But I think we are all susceptible to it especially in the social media society that we now live in, particularly in the western world. We live in a selfie climate and this can be quite unhealthy. For where it is good to be confident in one's self there will always be a tipping point as to when does it start to become showing off? There is a balance.
Are you posting a picture because you want a capsule of memories from events you've been with or because you want to share art or some joy or are you posting it to impress others as a somewhat social media CV? There is a difference. The world is so rife with self-gratification and trying to get something from others that we miss the opportunity to use social media as a platform to give rather than to gain. This gaining culture of ours has sucked many people into it's vortex of narcism. It has turned us into Peacocks. There are few and far in-between who have not imbued the characteristics of a peacock at some point or other. Myself included.
There are two types of peacocks: the oblivious kind and the insecure kind. The oblivious peacocks are the ones who show off without any thought. It comes naturally to them and they can't see that they are doing it. The insecure kind are usually people who have some kind of inferiority complex or who don't feel loved enough so are showing off, in order to gain attention. It is entirely possible too that the oblivious ones usually are insecure and it stems from something negative in the first place. For both kinds of peacocks though there is a way to get better and as with everything we can always improve, if we put our minds to it. Mostly it comes down to paying attention to your behaviour and questioning yourself and your motives for acting in the way you do. Be real with yourself, ask yourself has there been an instance recently where I may have bigged myself up unnecessarily or shown off at any point? Was it necessary? Could I have said it differently or not at all?
Peacocks are beautiful and have lots of beautiful characteristics. Don't beat yourself up if you have tended to show-off on occasion. Notice it, learn and try to do better next time.
Rabbits are cute, cuddly creatures who are incredibly loveable (little bit biased:) They burrow in the ground and are known to have large families. They have a lot of great attributes. However, they have one character trait that is not so positive and not most helpful in terms of behaviour either. They hideaway when they are afraid. Now as a rabbit that is completely acceptable as this protects them from being eaten. But if we embody this trait all the time and as much as rabbits do, then we risk never truly living. Or perhaps, just living in shadows forever. We need to face it that some things are scary but live with the
fear and do it anyway. We can't hideaway forever. It is in fact, in a way, slightly selfish because we deny the world of ourselves. Everyone has something to give. And if we all give more of ourselves we can learn to connect better and hopefully improve the world we live in and the relationships we have. Furthermore, the way in which we learn the best is to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. If we stay hidden we can never truly discover our potentials and never truly know if we could have made the world that much better for being part of it.
Cats are self sufficient creatures who never need validation from anyone. But they give and show their affection to you if they like you. They are confident and are not afraid to be seen. They hold themselves with an elegance and a certain poise but they don't show off. They are, in my eyes, a sort of middle ground between the peacock and the rabbit. It is not necessary to try to win people's affection not everyone has to like you or validate you. Cats know this and they will pay the people who don't like them, or who aren't nice to them, no heed. They choose to stay with you if you treat them well. They are not afraid to be seen and because of this they give people lots of joy and comfort and receive this in return. The cat is a creature who we should try to see as an example for how to find the balance between humility and showing off.
All the above creatures have positive and negative traits and really whichever you picked was a good choice because
they all serve the world in a unique, helpful, beautiful way. But in terms of where we find balance in humility I feel that we can learn the most from the cat. Cats have an innate confidence and self-respect that we should try to seek for ourselves. They know that they are worthy of affection and are happy to be seen. These traits are all traits that we can learn and work upon if we so wish.
I hope for you that you learn to find a satisfying balance and that you grow better everyday.
Lots of love
Naomi Leila
Xx
p.s. I'm curious which do you choose and why? Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear your thoughts :) p.p.s. adding one more bunny pic just for cuteness <3
