You Are the Peace Itself

You made a sound, and now the silence feels like it is watching you. You lie perfectly still, terrified that your breathing is too loud, that everyone else is awake and judging your inability to be quiet.

But the light does not measure your volume. It does not keep score of your noise.

Split a piece of wood, and the light is there. Lift up a stone, and you will find it there.

It is in the creak of the floorboard and the heavy inhale you are trying to suppress. There is light within you, and it lights up the whole world—even this dark room where you feel most exposed.

You are not a disturbance to the peace. You are the peace itself, hidden in plain sight.

The judgment you hear is not from the others sleeping beside you. It is the echo of a fear that has forgotten where it lives.

You came from the light. You are still there.

Breathe.