The dictionary meaning of respect is, ‘due regard for the feelings, wishes, or rights of others or polite behaviour towards or care for somebody/something that you think is important.’
Respect in a relationship is largely about how we treat and interact with each other on a regular basis. More often a disagreement, a loud voice, a snappy tone can be enough to feel a sense of disrespect. It is most likely because these actions tend to be interpreted as being dismissive. And when you are dismissed you feel disrespected. When you’re not acknowledged you feel disrespected.
Technically, Respect is the next step towards enhancing the quality of Understanding.
- It is the ability to deal with the differences of your partner in the relationship.
- It is the approach to managing disagreements.
- It is the effort made to acknowledge the things that are important to your partner.
However, having said that, it is very important for you to look at the actions or behaviour, which according to you makes you feel respected/disrespected and communicate that.
This is also because the concept of Respect in general has a link to our Self Worth, which is the sense of one’s own value or worth as a person. It influences our interpretation of the actions of our partner. For example as mentioned earlier, the momentary raise of a voice, the snap of a tone may be very difficult for one partner and might not have such an impact on another. And thereby it becomes important for us to identify for ourselves what are the things which make us feel disrespected and communicate the same to our partner. Simultaneously, it’s also essential to discuss that for you to feel respected, what is it that you would like your partner to do.
(After #Decoding Honesty, #Decoding Understanding, the final in our #MyLove #Decoding the Qualities I seek in you series, is #Decoding Love. / This post was a Featured Post on Indiblogger on 18 February 2019)
