R-E-S-P-E-C-T

How well do you go when someone tells you -  “No” ?

Accepting the no of another is an important part of emotional health and maturity.

We are designed to work with freedom and limits together.

Sounds contradictory?

In reality though, the ability to respect and respond to the limits of someone beside us, is the flip side of the ability to empathise with and love them.

If we come up to a limit that someone defines for themselves and we are used to embracing the freedom to own and define ourselves as well, then the no of another, is an opportunity to give respect, welcoming their self–control, just as we also exercise our own self -control.

The proper use of the words yes and no, is the way we define and control ourselves.

This respect that is present in our relationships is the ground from which a healthy relationship grows. It is an essential component in the home, the workplace, the community and it is also essential, in the relationship that I have with myself.

When a ‘no’ has been something said in anger or rejection in our formative years, it can feel  uncomfortable to receive in our adult life.  It is as though no and love don’t go together but in fact we can redeem the way we hear a no, to be a positive experience instead of a negative one.

We can discard the old thinking that does not serve us well and move forward into a healthier and happier belief.

In this place of respect for the separateness of others, we are able to welcome the limits and the no of others freely. This frees us also, to be true to our own heart and have our own healthy separateness and self- respect.

  This respect is an essential component of love.