respect

respect is a funny thing, especially when you view it from your own perspective.  it is easy to give respect to someone, but how do you gain respect for yourself.  you go your entire life looking for respect, but the reality is you must earn a person’s respect – whether that person is your spouse, your child, your parent or your boss.  in each one on one relationship, you must establish a sense of respect -more easily done with personal relationships.  with personal relationships, you can follow your instinct on how to act and respect will follow.  but in professional relationships, it is harder to judge when you have earned a person’s respect.  oftentimes, it is not clear if your boss or your subordinate respects you.  and sometimes you realize that you are not respected as much as you believed in the work environment.  therefore, the only path one must take in the work environment is to do what you think is right and act the way you feel is the right way –and if respect comes from your actions and words, then so be it.  on the other hand, if respect is not earned by your actions, then so be it as well.  in other words, you cannot control whether a person respects you or not, so don’t dwell on the idea of “does this person respect me”.  that is not for you to worry about – you can only control your own actions and results.  you cannot control earning respect from others.  you might do every action with the greatest of success –and still respect might not follow.  don’t look for respect from others and only look for respect from yourself.

be content

with your life.  stop thinking about what your life might be in the future.  stop wishing away the present.  look around at all that you have now.  be grateful for what you have now – for who you have now in your life – for the laughs you have now in life – for the moments you have now in life.  you will never get what you want in the future until you are happy with what you have now.  i don’t know why it is so embedded in human nature – to want what others have, to want more that what you have, to dream of a better life – when the life you have now is the “better life”.  in every day that you live now, there are moments of joy and beauty.  when you sit at a table with your family and you talk, smile, laugh – you are experiencing the best things that life has to offer –ever.  it does not get any better than those moments –moments that you will yearn for in your dying hour.  why are there so many cliches about living now, living for the moment, live in the present – it is because they are true.  you just have to realize it.  you have to flip a switch in your mind to stop wishing and wanting –and start living.  because before you know it, your wish will come true – you will be in the future and you will only have regret then, for not stopping in time to flip the switch.