Human beings are antenna receivers. You will see what I mean by the end of this post. If you are having issues living well with others or are just curious to learn new information to improve your interpersonal relationships, this post is also for you.
I know the title says “living peacefully with other people at home.” The “home” in this instance is not referring only to the home you share with your family but also to include homes, rooms, and dormitory you share with other people.
I lived with several roommates during my school days. In my first three years as an undergraduate, I stayed with complete strangers I had never met before.
It wasn’t always a palatable experience. At some point, we had quarrels, arguments and disagreements, and even kept malice for some time. In the end, we move on again.
As students living in the school dormitories with different people who had different lifestyles, habits, and preferences, those experiences taught me some great lessons on how to live peacefully with other people.
Dynamics of living with other people
When it comes to physical space, we don’t occupy so much space in a room, especially if sleeping and waking are the most important activities considered. Up to twenty people can be made to live together in a small room and there would be space left.
Unfortunately, physical space is not the only factor determining how well people live together. There is room for consent, compatibility, and tolerance because we are all different, we have different backgrounds and ideologies that we need to compromise on.
People have different beliefs. Home training and family background can also differ such that what one prefers can be significantly unpleasant to another.
Home and environmental hygiene is also another disparity you will notice when living with other people. Your neighbours might behave differently in terms of how they want their personal surroundings to be. If you prefer to have a clean personal space, having someone who doesn’t care can be very frustrating.
Another important dynamic of living with other people is in the area of sleeping and resting preferences. For example, someone who prefers to sleep in a dark room, one who prefers the entire bed to himself, or still, someone who snores while sleeping.
There are a lot of things you have to put up with when living with other people. This post will show you all you need to know to live peacefully with other people.
Situations where we have to live with other people
- New college students in the general dormitory.
- Newly housemates in an industrial area for the purpose of rent sharing.
- Newly married couple in their new home.
- New work colleagues who are to share working or living space for any reason, etc.
6 Ways to Live Peacefully with Other People
To live peacefully and harmoniously with other people, the following tips will be very helpful. Shortly after this section, we will see what I meant by the statement “Human beings are antenna receivers”.
1. Tolerance
Tolerance is the number #1 thing you need to live peaceably with other people. People have their own preferences, as described earlier, and these may not always align with yours. You need to tolerate someone if you want to live peacefully with him/her.
I have often found myself overlooking some acts I would consider improper by my own standards. You need to realize that when you are staying with someone else, your own standards no longer apply strictly. You are going to have to bend sometimes to accommodate them.
2. Thoughtfulness
Thoughtfulness is a demonstration of kindness that leads to a cycle of good deeds by people living together. It arises from you asking the important question of “What would the other person want?”, etc. And if the other person left something on the cooker, you can help keep an eye on it even without them telling you explicitly.
Thoughtfulness is that element of peaceful living that makes you and your housemates act kindly to each other at all times. They may not say it but allowing their food to get burnt when you are around makes them see you as very useless and unconcerned, and this can affect the harmony you share.
3. Understanding
Understanding helps you to put yourself in the shoes of the other person/people you are living with. You don’t always have to see things from your own perspective. Also, try to know their reasons for doing what they do.
Being deliberate about understanding your roommate will lead you to overlook some of their actions instead of attaching meanings to them.
4. Listening
No matter the age difference between you and the person you are living with, you need to pay attention to what they say and take them into cognizance. Listening enables you to understand what someone means and to know what they want so you can do it.
Listening creates a strong bond between two or more people. Instead of always trying to speak and be controlling things, be open to listening to them too. That way, they feel motivated to listen to you too.
5. Helpfulness
I have personally seen roommates or housemates who are opposed to helping each other. You can see them avoiding helping the other(s) even when they are in serious need of help.
Such attitudes threaten the peace and harmony of any group. Hence, helpfulness helps you build harmony, peace, and unity among people living together.
6. Thinking about their happiness
Many people have problems living with other people because they focus on their own happiness without thinking about their neighbours’ happiness too.
When you focus too much on your own happiness, you have a tendency to act selfishly. When your neighbours see your act of selfishness, this can affect how they live with you.
Also, humans are antenna receivers. They can sense what you intend even if you don’t say it directly.
Humans are Antenna Receivers
What I am about to tell you here is very true. And it can help you live better with other people.
Humans are more sensitive to internal signals than you know. You might not be as secretive as you think you are.
Humans have the ability to understand your intentions to a variable extent. Thus, by acting in good faith, you can build a better relationship with your neighbours than if you try to act dubiously.
Take, for example, someone who is telling a lie to someone else because he wants to escape something, say giving them some money. It’s often absurd how the person saying the lie always thinks the other does not know what is going on when that person is just keeping silent to allow you to do your deed.
That can affect the quality of relationships you share with other people. So, it is important to keep a good heart, conscience and intention at all times. Because while you think people do not see your inside, there is a lot more the human antenna can receive than you can ever imagine.
