I RESPECT Myself & Others

{Post 21/365: Original Post: I AM a QUEEN}
I have looked RESPECT up in a dictionary/thesaurus so there is NO confusion for myself or anyone else.

RESPECT:
(verb)
To have a high opinion of: admire, consider, esteem, honor, regard, value.
To recognize the worth, quality, importance, or magnitude of: appreciate, cherish, esteem, prize, treasure, value.

(noun)
A feeling of deference, approval, and liking: account, admiration, appreciation, consideration, esteem, estimation, favor, honor, regard.
A person's high standing among others: dignity, good name, good report, honor, prestige, reputation, repute, status.



I cannot be a queen if I don't FIRST respect myself and then also respect others.
I respect MYSELF by honouring the gifts and qualities that make me uniquely ME.
I respect myself by accepting my faults and flaws and understanding they are just part of me.
I respect myself by NOT beating myself up verbally, mentally and even physically for making ANY of the mistakes I have made, haven't made yet, and will absolutely make in the future.
I respect the inner voice of my own heart and soul and that it knows the difference between right and wrong and chooses to do right.
Therefore, I respect myself by NOT making choices that hurt me or feed into my own self-pity, and/or the lies that I tell myself daily.
I choose to follow the voice in my heart when it is being kind and selfless and giving and generous and honest and loving. NOT follow it when it is being petty or selfish or angry or vengeful or evil or full of HATE.
I respect myself when I honour the relationships I am part of. With my family and friends and all the people that I meet. We are all different.  Because five people come to a place by a different path doesn't make any of them WRONG...just different.   That is ok.
We can agree to disagree. We can respect each other and that we each have a right to choose and live and believe and love by our own paths.
It will not make me LESS for being open to the differences.
It will only show my respect for their right to choose for themselves.
Life is an individual journey for each of us and we are all learning daily as we go along.
So how does it hurt me to open my heart and mind to new ideas and possibilities?
To understand that we don't all do everything the very same way and that is ok.
I also must understand that I am myself human and therefore imperfect.  So while I realize I need to respect myself I also understand that I will sometimes fall short of the mark and that is also ok. I will fall prey to the hurt and insecurity and anger just like anyone else.
I will fight. I will hurt.
I will cry.
I will forgive.
I will hug. I will laugh. I will love.
I will disrespect and I will respect and I will continue to strive and learn and grow stronger and healthier inside myself and towards myself and then to everyone else as well.
I will respect myself with compassion and dignity.

I HOPE that there are far more days of respect than there are of disrespect for MYSELF, FROM myself to YOU, and FROM all of you to ME too!