Respect: (v). “a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements”
Leaving emotion out of it, respect is something that is the natural response (an admiration) to someone with abilities, qualities or achievements. Bring emotion into it… and it can be something entirely different.
If we’ve ever been so concerned with how someone is treating us that we take no care in how we are treating that person, or any other for that matter, we’ve hit a wall. This wall tells us that at some point we’ve elevated the importance of respect others show toward us above the one thing we can control… how we respect others. This wall is emotion. (ex – “How dare they treat me like that!”)
When we decide NOT to show respect
When we decide against something, it is usually depends upon a boundary, in this case the ‘wall of emotion’ we’ve set for ourselves. To show disrespect is to be lead by emotion. The reasons are usually rooted in deeper issues. How do we know this? Well, maybe there are a few things that are working out for us. Perhaps our life is generally good. If someone should inquire, we’d say so. However, we may subconsciously set those generally good feelings aside to stand by our disdain. To prove our disrespect for a particular person or situation. This compromises our very own well-being. To show disrespect is to be mislead.
The opposing side
To be mislead is to venture outside the boundaries of pure, solid faith. So just as with disrespect, the same could be said for showing too much respect. When we’ve crossed the line from faithfulness to foolishness, because of our own wall of emotion, it’s hard to tell at first. But little by little this imbalance, this displacement of respect, tears away at us until we can no longer see faith.
So where is faith?
We can find faith by prioritizing respect. Making it a priority in our lives, in how we do business, in everything. We must be conscious, aware when we are placing undue disrespect or even respect on an individual. This is to do something unusual. Besides, we are conditioned to be lead by our emotions. We have been trained that taking things one or two steps beyond their appropriate boundaries is considered sexy even honest or raw. The truth is faith lies within the appropriate boundaries. It’s not always easy to be aware of this… but it does pay off. What could be more sexy than that?
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