Buddhist lifestyle

During the presentations about India this last weeks, I have learned a lot and find myself being once again attracted to Hindi culture, lots of new topics were presented and today a group presented about something I was familiar with, Buddhism.

There's more to Buddhism than shaving one's head, wearing orange robes and being blissful.

Being the only not-Christian person in my family is not easy, they're all strong believers and many times I am left out of a conversation, but although my Dad is a Christian, he also raised us with Buddhist values: Like having compassion for others and causing them no harm, achieved by ridding oneself of anger, greed, hatred, and other negative emotions, for in the presence of those it is impossible to feel loving kindness, also important are equanimity and reason, since it is through analytical meditation, using logic and examining cause and effect relationships that we can penetrate the misconceptions we have about the true nature reality. We must not get attached to material thing because they are not going to be with us life length.
All over the world there are fight about religions, where thousand end up killed for their beliefs. I am a believer that Buddhism is a truly pacific religion and I find myself often obsessed with the concept of the Nirvana, the achievement of true peace and happiness. This is truly a lifestyle worth studying and applying to your everyday life, years ago I learned to let the negative feelings go and I find myself infinitely happier since then. I have tried meditating and even if I feel much quieter after it, I am still not completely capable of blocking myself from distractions for long periods, it is hard to achieve but as I've heard, it's worth it.
Also to clarify some things people often relate to Buddhism:
1.- Buddha is not a God, Buddha is (as Francisca explained today) a representation of a man that having it all, left and went to seek and finally achieve true Nirvana.
2.- Buddhism does not say that "nothing exists", it challenges our understanding of existent things.
3.- Vegetarianism was not related to Buddhism originally, but as Buddha said "do not kill", to eat meat is considered, nowadays, killing in proxy.
4.- Karma is the same as "fate", karma stated that for an action, there will be an equal responsive reaction, good or bad.
5.- Karma punished those who deserve it: karma is as impersonal as gravity, it simply states that what goes up, comes down, what you do happens to you.

What do you think about this lifestyle? do you find it achievable? 

If you have any questions about it just ask me :)

Catalina Olavarría