Respect comes from listening to, and understanding others.

Respect comes from listening to, and understanding others.

I was going to write something else tonight but that’s been shelved for tomorrow. I thought of this and I felt that it was something I needed to share before I forget!

I forget lots :) Anyway,

Attribution: By Jonas Bergsten [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

As a younger male I would always find myself in situations that I couldn’t handle.

Someone would get angry and I couldn’t understand why. I’d end up clamming up and walking away

Generally, you’ll see people walking past a difficult situation in the street now,

I don’t think it’s heartlessness, just that they don’t understand what to do or how to act.

I think people have become very selfish in their ways in 2016, I blame the media and the focus on YOU

One must talk and listen to others to learn a different perspective in my books

Not just talk at people on social media,

But that’s just me.

I was always getting myself into arguments with girlfriends as a younger male for something that I said,

Truth be told I didn’t truly understand what I was saying,

I would just blurt it out and let it cause the damage wherever it went.

I wasn’t the best at communication in my twenties,

In fact, I truly sucked at it.

I also remember my boss taking me aside for something friendly I said to someone,

Apparently they didn’t think I was being friendly at all.

Attribution: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=96356&picture=angry-man

A little later I started to truly listen to people, I mean truly

Not talk AT them, or OVER them,

You know, when you grunt at your significant other in a manly display of attention?

No I would sit down and take in what they said.

It actually came as a shock to me that other people have needs too, and wildly different to my own,

That’s why Politics is so divided, and controversial. Same with religion,

Fact of the matter is, there’s some people out there that have experienced life entirely different to me, and their perspective is different to me too.

But I listen,

And take it in.

Because I respect people enough to know that my viewpoint isn’t the only one.

Attribution: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=4860

And what happened when I started to listen?

I learned to navigate.

I learned to stay away from unnecessary arguments

Would you rather be arguing a political point with someone? Or talking about something far more awesome instead?

And from that came a general respect of what people had to say

And from there?

I started to get respect for what I had to say

What you give out, you get back.

Attribution: By Keith Rowley (Flickr: IMG_1491.jpg) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

I keep saying that! :)

Listen to your friends, Mum, colleague, or random stranger,

Ask them how their day has been,

And listen. Don’t ask it as an opener,

Invite a different perspective into your life

Cherish difference; not everything has to be the same,

And be awesome.

Own your life!