Respect is the glue that holds your relationships together. Learn ways to be respectful and know what to do when somebody isn’t respectful toward you.

‘Respect’ means treating everyone and everything with care. The golden rule is to treat others the way you would like to be treated. You can show respect for your classmates, parents and teachers in many ways – how you speak to them, how you behave towards them and how you look after your belongings and the personal belongings of others. You also need to know how to respect yourself.

When you respect others you show them that you care about them. You can do this by treating everyone with kindness. If you respect others, your parents, teachers and friends will respect you. This helps to make your school a happy place to be.

What is Respect?

Respect can be defined as thinking and feeling good things about a person. Also, it’s treating someone in a way that shows them that you care about their well-being. When you respect someone, you consider them as a person of worth. Ultimately, you appreciate their value as an individual.

Why Is It Important to Show Respect?

Showing respect is important for building healthy relationships.

This is because:

  • Respect multiplies- to get respect, you have to give it
  • Respect builds trust
  • This is what civilized people do
  • It makes others feel good when you respect them
  • It promotes good behavior
  • It accepts the rights of others to be themselves

Respect creates a positive environment in which relationships can flourish. Without it, relationships flounder.

The Importance of Self-Respect

Before you can respect others, you have to respect yourself. You can’t think positively about others, if you don’t think positively about yourself. Basically, a person that respects themselves will treat others the way they want to be treated.

In short, self-respect means having confidence and behaving with dignity. When you respect yourself, you believe that you’re worthy of being respected and loved. Without it, you won’t be able to accept the respect that others have for you. In turn, you won’t respect others because you won’t understand the positive effects that respect has on a person. Ultimately, respecting others begins with self-compassion and respecting yourself.

How Kindness, Empathy, Compassion are Related to Respect

To fully appreciate an individual, you’ll have to show kindness, empathy, and compassion. No one is perfect. We all make mistakes.

Respecting someone means showing kindness, empathy, and compassion in the face of their mistakes.

Kindness means being generous and considerate. This allows you to look past a person’s faults. Likewise, empathy allows you to put yourself in another person’s shoes. Then, you can see things from their perspective.

Finally, compassion literally means “suffering together”. This levels the playing field. Neither person is better than the other. In the end, we’re all human and worthy of validation.

Therefore, when you respect someone, you show them kindness, empathy, and compassion.

13 Ways to Show Respect

It’s not enough to say that you respect someone. You have to show respect. It needs to be evident in your actions.

To help you show respect to others, here are some ways to show respect to those around you.

1. Practice Active Listening

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Active listening requires you to be present in the conversation. Also, to actively listen, you have to demonstrate that you’re paying attention.

Listening and hearing are two different activities. When you listen, you process what you’re hearing. You have to think about it and respond appropriately.

For example, you can:

  • Use eye contact
  • Ask questions
  • Summarize what is being said

Active listening demonstrates to the other person that you value what they have to say. Furthermore, you convey that you value their ideas. This goes a long way towards showing respect.

2. Look for Common Ground

Humanity has commonalities along with diversity. If you look hard enough, you can find something that you have in common with another person. It may be a shared experience or a shared value.

Once you find common ground, use this as a starting point for a relationship. From there, you can help the relationship grow by focusing on the similarities, instead of the differences between each other.

3. Seek to Understand Others

In the face of conflict, it’s easy to defend your opinion. Instead, invoke your curiosity. Use the situation as a learning opportunity. Find out the basis of the other person’s perspective.

Even if you don’t agree, you’ll learn something new about the other person. You’ll gain an understanding of why they feel and act the way they do. You’ll see how their experiences have shaped their perspective.

Also, you’ll grow personally as you expand your horizons past your own experiences as you show respect for the experiences of others.

4. Show Empathy for Differences

You might not relate to their perspective, but you can respect their right to have it. Everyone comes from a different background. Even two people that grew up in the same town may have different perspectives because they grew up in different families.

Our backgrounds and experiences shape our perspectives. By honoring a person’s perspective, you honor their background.

When you don’t understand someone’s perspective, ask them, “What makes you say that?” This opens the door for you to learn about what has shaped their perspective. Then, you can value their experience.

5. Serve Others

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Service doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s really about giving back to others. By doing so, you make their life better.

6. Apologize When You’re Wrong

If you make a mistake, admit it. Don’t try to cover it up. Also, say you’re sorry.

Apologizing shows empathy, care, and recognition.

Finally, it’s an act of honesty that requires humility. By apologizing, you demonstrate the value of the wronged person.

7. Be Polite

The lack of politeness today is shocking. For example, road rage incidents have increased recently. This proves that society has forgotten how to be nice.

It doesn’t take much effort to be polite. In fact, it’s something that we teach children. When you think about it, being polite simply means interacting positively with others. Saying thank you with a smile is the least you can do.

8. Show Gratitude

While saying thank you is being polite, showing gratitude goes deeper with being thankful. Gratitude expresses your appreciation for another person.

Yes, you should tell someone you’re thankful for what they have done or for who they are. For instance, you can say, “I just wanted you to know I appreciate how you always look for the good in every situation. It really inspires me to be more positive.”

In addition to saying words of gratitude, you also need to show gratitude by doing something nice for others. It doesn’t have to be a grand gesture. It can be a simple act of kindness.

9. Celebrate Their Achievements

Everyone deserves a pat on the back. We’ve all done something worth praising. Again, you don’t have to wait for major accomplishments to celebrate.

Celebrate the small wins, too. In fact, finding something small to appreciate may be more meaningful because it means you are paying close attention.

Draw attention to their success. Let them know they did a good job, and watch their faces light up.

10. Affirm the Other Person

Find something good to say about someone and say it. This gives them evidence that they matter. Make it about something dear to their heart and give them even more satisfaction. 

You can affirm their opinions, values, and viewpoints. Whatever you choose to affirm, let them know they have value. Show them that they’re worthy of respect

For example, you can say something like, “I really like what you said. It helped me see things from a different perspective, and I appreciate that.”

11. Offer Support

We all need a helping hand at times, whether it be physical or emotional support. By offering support and encouragement, you let them know that you care about them. Moreover, helping out demonstrates that their actions are important because you’re participating with them.

This makes them feel important, because what they’re doing is important to you.

12. Keep Your Promises

Being a person of your word shows the other person that they’re worth the effort. On the other hand, breaking a promise shows a lack of respect. To the other person, it’s as if they don’t matter enough for you to keep your promise.

Ultimately, this undermines the relationship because the trust is broken. A healthy relationship requires trust.

13. Take Care of Yourself

Give yourself the same respect that you give others. You can do this by taking care of yourself physically and mentally.

You can’t serve and support others if you don’t have the energy to do so. Moreover, you can’t keep promises if you’re too run-down to do what you’ve promised.

Source : happierhuman.com