Respect

What is respect? How do I earn it? Why do we want it? How do we show respect? Here are my thoughts on the subject…

Respect is treating someone with honor and dignity. Showing that you hold their opinion, thought process and actions in high regards. You can not earn this, it is only given. We desire respect as humans because it is a form of attention and recognition of our behaviors and actions. We desire to be appreciated and wanted. How do we show respect? Well, that is what we are about to talk about. Here are 5 things to implement when showing someone respect.

1. Active Listening – Active listening is a show of respect because we are showing that what they are saying matters. Their words hold significance to us. To learn more about active listening read this post. (https://thisgirlzlife.blog/2019/10/29/listen/ )
2. Respectful Speach/Response – When addressing them the least you could do is remember their name. Address them with a prefix to their name if you want to get fancy with it like Mr., Mrs., Miss, etc. Talk with a pleasant tone. No one likes to be talked to rudely or in a condescending tone.
3. Recalling – When talking to someone, something I found that earns you a lot of points with people is mentioning something that the opposing person mentioned last time you spoke. Example – “Wow, that’s amazing! Hey, I seem to recall that your mother was put in the hospital, how is she doing?” A simple sentence like that says a lot. It says “I really care about you and your well being.” “What you say actually means something.” “I am not talking to you just to pass the time, I am actually interested in what you have to say.”
4. Recognizing and Acknowledging – We all desire to be acknowledged for what we have done. Whether it is good or bad is completely irrelevant. Recognition, we all all want to be recognized at least for our efforts if nothing else. Even if you do not like the entirety of what happened you can say something like this “Hey, I saw that you were trying to help me with (said issue), I appreciate your effort but it would be more helpful if you do (this).” You recognized their attempt and acknowledged their desire to help, while redirecting their thought process so that they could be helpful in a more appropriate desirable way.
5. Admitting You are Wrong – This is huge! Nobody wants to admit that they are wrong. This means a lot to anybody. Admitting you are wrong makes you take up responsibility for your actions. That alone deserves respect in my books.

Okay, we have now covered the top 5 things that I suggest you carry out when attempting your hardest to show someone respect. Remember to always be genuine when you are doing things like this. Children and people who have walked the hard road can see right through you and those who can not, don’t deserve to be tricked by you. I hope this helps you and makes sense. May you have a blessed day.

Sincerely,

*This Girl*