How To Be Respected

• Image Credit: Google

• Feb 4, 2025 | Atifa Deshamukhya

How common is the case of one who looks askance at others for lack of respect.....
Digital Desk: We all want to be respected.

We go extra miles to earn that respect, sometimes to demand it, even!

How common is the case of one who looks askance at others for lack of respect.

And then, more often than not, pat comes the reply, ‘respect has to be earned, not demanded!’
Teenagers of today are specially hung up on this concept.

While throwing all resect to the winds, they demand that they be ‘respected’, their every wish cherished, and applauded.

The age-old exhortation to give, before we seek to get, comes in handy here.

In the scriptures we have, “Do to others as you wish them to do to you.”

Let us then re-wire our minds to be respectful to others.

It is easy to respect the goodness in others.

But can we respect people in their wholeness? Can we take a step back and try to view things with different perspectives?

Losing respect is often when we are hung up on our own way of judging the world. We tend to look down on others who do not subscribe to our view of the world. This condescending attitude sets in motion a vicious cycle. For, when we don’t respect others, can we expect others to respect us?

The way around this problem is probably to be more accommodating and accepting of others.

After all, our vibe communicates the reality better than words.

The positive vibe of acceptance of others will bring in the same acceptance for ourselves in their eyes.

And with that acceptance, will be weeded out the disrespect that we all dread.

(The writer is a Life Coach and Senior Soft Skills trainer; and can be reached at atifa@comeaspire.net)

-Atifa Deshamukhya