[New post] What is it about Dignity?

rheadopmeijer posted: " What is it about Dignity? The mo­ment I de­cided to write about dig­nity, thoughts were fol­low­ing them­selves up about the mean­ing it has for me. It has to do with be­ing hon­or­able, re­spect and wor­thi­ness in my opin­ion. It al" What is it about Dignity? rheadopmeijer Apr 29 What is it about Dignity? The mo­ment I de­cided to write about dig­nity, thoughts were fol­low­ing them­selves up about the mean­ing it has for me. It has to do with be­ing hon­or­able, re­spect and wor­thi­ness in my opin­ion. It also has to do with the way we per­ceive each other. Be­hav­ing with dig­nity, some­times is chal­leng­ing when we are feel­ing hurt or not un­der­stood. When peo­ple are tend­ing to dis­re­spect you, mak­ing you feel de­graded, not wor­thy. It also has to do with the way we per­ceive our­selves. Self-worth is a qual­ity, which makes it eas­ier to re­spond with more calm­ness and re­spect. When peo­ple are treat­ing you with­out re­spect for your ef­forts, or the work you do, how to re­spond to that. Is it pos­si­ble to act with dis­re­spect­ing your­self, and then when con­fronted with a sit­u­a­tion, come out the other end with dig­nity? We some­times can lose re­spect for some­one we love and hold dear, caused by the way they act. When a loved one is fac­ing an ad­dic­tion for in­stance, act­ing out un­der the in­flu­ence of al­co­hol or drugs. Judge­ment plays a big part in the way we look at our­selves as well as oth­ers. When we do some­thing and feel ashamed about it af­ter wards, we also face los­ing self-re­spect. Not be­ing wor­thy to be loved or dis­re­spected for the way we han­dle a sit­u­a­tion like be­tray­ing a loved one. How to han­dle this with dig­nity? Don't we all have come across a sit­u­a­tion we are hav­ing trou­ble with deal­ing in love and re­spect, even though we love the one caus­ing this dilemma? To hold on to your self-worth, your­self love, is­n't easy when you are mak­ing mis­takes, which hurt not just your­self. Hurt­ing the ones, we love, is the hard­est thing to for­give, as well for­giv­ing your­self. Dig­nity is also a synonym for mag­nif­i­cence and grandeur, right­eous­ness and re­spectabil­ity. It is a high stan­dard to up­hold when you are at your low­est, is­n't it? Dur­ing my life­time, I have come across many sit­u­a­tions and peo­ple who were at their low­est point in life. Act­ing out in ways that showed their in­ner tur­moil, as well the shame and pain. How to deal with it in a way you can find your self-re­spect and self-worth again? When it is per­sonal it re­quires lots of work to feel wor­thy of be­ing loved and re­spected again. The guilt and the shame are pow­er­ful en­e­mies in the in­ner world of some­one. When you are not used to being loved and re­spected grow­ing up, it is even the hard­est chal­lenge to deal with. How to rekin­dle that lit­tle flame in­side the heart, when all you have en­coun­tered cru­elty and bit­ter­ness? Is dig­nity some­thing you can learn, or is it al­ready part of your char­ac­ter and per­son­al­ity? It is in­trigu­ing is­n't it to find out if it is in your DNA so to speak. Some peo­ple seem to have that kind of dig­nity wher­ever they are. Who has com­po­sure about them­selves, no mat­ter what sit­u­a­tion they en­counter? Who has a way of be­ing hon­or­able, and therefore re­spected by those around them? Not in a cold man­ner, of­ten com­ing with com­pas­sion and kind­ness for oth­ers. They have pres­ence, which is un­de­ni­able. Also, with crafts­man we can find the way they work filled with re­spect for the ob­ject or tools they work with. The in­ten­sity and fo­cus they show while pro­duc­ing their crafts­man­ship. We can see this with mu­si­cians as well, hold­ing their com­po­sure with ease. The way peo­ple care is also the ability to be a teacher or a healer. Dig­nity is shown through every as­pect of our lives. No mat­ter what we do, which po­si­tion we have in the ma­te­r­ial world, it is a qual­ity that shines through no mat­ter what. We have seen it in some of our world lead­ers, as well in the poor­est of mankind, wear­ing the man­tle of dig­nity as a nat­ural essence and pres­ence. In cases like these, we tend to feel re­spected and loved ourselves as well. Love is a pow­er­ful com­po­nent, which holds dig­nity as one of the many qual­i­ties. So, when some­one is show­ing this form of love, able to hold up and on to self-worth and self-love, we all see this. It is also a mir­ror, or a re­flec­tion, what is pos­si­ble to gain as well. It might be per­ceived as a threat, or to ad­mire some­one, who is able to re­spond and re­act with dig­nity to un­fore­seen sit­u­a­tions. We have seen them through his­tory, the way peo­ple rise above them­selves. How Love can be the key to in­ner courage as well to re­spond in a way peo­ple re­spect, nev­er­the­less. Some­times it is per­ceived as re­gal, the calm­ness within to re­act or re­spond to dan­ger or at­tacks. How many movies are made to honor he­roes through times? How much re­spect do we not have for those who can hold up the stan­dard of grandeur, or mag­nif­i­cence? What de­fines us in the way we can hold up our dig­nity so to speak. Is it the way we re­act to sit­u­a­tions be­yond our con­trol? When we get ill, de­pend­ing on oth­ers to take care of us, in all ways. Loos­ing con­trol is dif­fi­cult for I think every­one if it's about self-care and ba­sic needs, such as safety, a roof over your head, enough food to stay alive. When you are home­less and lose your self-re­spect be­cause you lost the con­trol to take care of your­self or your fam­ily. So many peo­ple are in that po­si­tion world­wide.  When there is loss of deco­rum due to ill­ness, or the sit­u­a­tion is de­grad­ing. We all have seen the im­ages of those liv­ing in camps, with­out any san­i­tair fa­cil­i­ties. It is­n't easy to hold up your pos­ture then, is it? We might look with dis­gust at those cir­cum­stances or have our prej­u­dices and judg­men­tal thoughts about those liv­ing in such poor cir­cum­stances caused by war. Or due to the sit­u­a­tion in their coun­try, where the rich are few and the hunger and poor cir­cum­stances are the norms. How can you stay pre­sent with a sense of no­bil­ity, with a way of grandeur? Is it then just for the rich, those who are born in rich­ness and wealth? I don't think so. We have great role mod­els who showed us that even the cir­cum­stances can bring forth peo­ple with grandeur. With a sense of no­bil­ity, com­ing forth through their pres­ence and ac­tions. Who we re­spect and honor, be­cause they stood up against sup­pres­sion? Like Man­dela, like Gandhi for in­stance. It is a qual­ity that is­n't just for a few. Be­com­ing aware and con­scious about the way we re­spond is a way to learn how we are re­act­ing in re­spect. Re­spect and wor­thi­ness are part of dig­nity, as is self-love. The way we can love our­selves makes it pos­si­ble to feel wor­thy and re­spect­ful to­wards our­selves as well oth­ers. This process we are in will lead to per­sonal growth. Which en­able us to feel we are all in this to­gether and are part of the out­come. Never un­der­es­ti­mate the way our re­sponse will af­fect oth­ers. It is the way we can im­presses through love and kind­ness, through com­pas­sion and re­spect, we will be per­ceived by oth­ers. It all starts within ourselves. The way we heal and bal­ance our in­ner world, the hurt, and pain, the shame and guilt. How we re­de­fine our­selves through the heal­ing process will af­fect our loved ones as well those who don't know us. It is not just a façade; it will be a pres­ence that shines through. Dig­nity is com­posed in lots of as­pects and will come through our ac­tions, words, as well the way we show com­pas­sion with each other. To be hon­est, re­spect­ful in every way. To hold com­po­sure com­ing from this place of Love. To have com­pas­sion with your­self as well, learn­ing from mis­takes we make along the way. To build self-re­spect and self-worth again brick by brick. To for­give one­self as well oth­ers is one of the great­est gifts to give. Within all those com­po­nents we can find that as­pect of dig­nity within our­selves. Self-es­teem and pride in who you are, com­ing forth through Love will make a dif­fer­ence. And so, it will be High Self @RheaD­op­mei­jer © Heart­felt Mes­sages Comment Like You can also reply to this email to leave a comment. Unsubscribe to no longer receive posts from What is Love?. Change your email settings at manage subscriptions. Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser: https://rheadopmeijer.wordpress.com Powered by WordPress.com