Respect is a boomerang; always comes back without a doubt. Do you want respect? So better give respect? Earn respect. This is a universal truth applicable in our daily lives. Whether it’s family, friendship or professional matters, our daily dealings with people revolve around this philosophy. Doesn’t this seem very simple? As a simple five-word statement, it may sound easy, but the practicality of it needs persistent ingredients of love, patience, care, and wisdom.
When does a person feel disrespected? When we are forced, ignored, threatened, tricked, mocked, betrayed or laughed at. In everyday life we coordinate with many new faces. But 90% of your day is spent with familiar faces. Whether it’s your office space or your family; the most common relationships for us are parents, children, wife/husband, brother, sister, close friend, boss, and their immediate reports. As you grow older, the importance and level of connection with these people differ. Any relationship that changes one’s emotional behavior (emotional imbalance) while interacting with you is actually in a fear relationship with you. FEAR forces us to leave our comfort zone, so we begin to behave abnormally. By comparison, respect is natural. Our friendly behavior and attitude towards our relationship compels the person to respect you NATURALLY. It comes from the natural interior that is our heart.
There are two types of respect modes. The first is respect as an obligation, which is also called FEAR. This is a compulsory type of respect that you give someone within legal, natural, ethical, or professional limits. Be it your parents, your boss or your client. You can give them energetic respect; otherwise you are aware of the consequences. Respect through fear is little earned. It quickly becomes disrespectful, if not handled properly with a touch of respect. So, on our relationship scale (say as a parent) of ten, we can be on a scale of two for fear and a scale of eight for respect. We need to set these scales very carefully in our lives, especially with people who have a long-term relationship with us.
The big question, how can one earn respect? When are we respected? When are our opinions heard? When do we get recognition? When asked for the options? When we are not circumvented or handled diplomatically? Now, when do you think this can really happen to us? Simple, when we give the same to the other person who deserves it? Be it our parents, our children, wife, husband, colleagues or bosses. The more we practice this behavior, the more we get the same from them. Either you would be loved or respected. Thus, you create a win-win situation with your relationships.
Last but not least, if you respect others, it will never demean you in the eyes of other people. This is a negative perception that we all normally create from this behavior. We tend to think that if I respect others, they will take advantage of this behavior of mine. Trust me, this is just a perception. Practice respect, it will surely open many closed avenues of your LIFE.