Positivity: Respect

Everybody deserves respect.

I believe that many of the conflicts across the globe are the result of a lack of respect.  The rich do not respect the poor and vice versa.  The religious do not respect the atheists and vice versa.  The conservatives do not respect the liberals and vice versa.  I could go on and on, but no doubt you can see how easy it is for us to disrespect our differences.

We all deserve to be respected, despite our differences.  This seems like a very simple statement, but in truth it carries an unbelievable amount of weight.  Respect is this amazingly simple notion that gets easily overlooked.

Why do we lose respect?  I think part of it stems from the way we tend to group ourselves.  Rather than generalize, we get so specific in how we identify ourselves.  Whether by race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality…we create these boxes that we want to place ourselves in.

Once inside these boxes we have created, we easily respect others around us.  But those outside of the same box?  Well they are different, they are not in the same place as we are.  We are often led to believe that they do not respect us, so respecting them in return doesn’t happen.

So we fight one another.  Whether it is a physical fight, a political fight, an emotional fight, a spiritual fight or what-have-you, we end up in conflict.  What are we conflicted about?  Respect.  We want to all be respected for our opinions and our beliefs, and we disrespect those who do not respect us in return.

Respect however begins from within.  Do you respect yourself?  The import of that question is enormous, because if you do not respect yourself, how can you respect others?  If you cannot give respect, how can you expect to get respect?  It has to start with you – you have to know that you DESERVE respect, and as such you need to respect yourself.

You are worthwhile.  You are free to believe as you want to believe, to worship as you want to worship, to love as you want to love, to be who you are.  As such, you deserve respect.  As such, EVERYONE deserves respect.  I believe that if we show more respect for ourselves, and in turn more respect for others we can generate more positive energies, and better the world around us.

Finding positivity is not hard, it just requires action.  Knowing that you deserve respect, and that respect comes from within first can help you to see your own worth, and then allow you to give respect to others.  Knowing that being respected makes you feel good, you can return that respect and create Positivity.  Positive attitude begets positive energy, and that is always a good thing.

This is the eighth entry of my Positivity series.  It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone.