Thank you @eco-alex for continuing to come up with these awesome questions. This one is a gentle reminder to check in and see how I am treating myself and I really need to do that right now. We all do, we need these questions to help direct our attention back to what is really important in life.

We all seek to be respected by others, it is seen as the ultimate honour to gain some one's respect, to know that some one is acknowledging you and all that you have done for those around you, for your community, your tribe. But that respect, really means nothing if you do not respect yourself first.

They say that respect is earned and sure, that may be true when it comes to respecting others, but self respect is something we are born with. It is something that I see in my children, the way they carry themselves, they way the just get on and do what they wish to do. When there is no one there to interfere, to make them doubt themselves, They believe that they can do anything. They are very comfortable with who they are and have no problem accepting themselves. They only time I have heard them voice any doubt, is when they have repeated what some one else has said to them.

My eldest daughter is beautiful, yes of course I will say that, but she is. One day she came back to me really upset because another girl she knew told her that because her hair was short and dark, she looked more like a boy and therefore was not beautiful. So here it was, the start of stripping away the acceptance that one has for oneself, this is the reality of the world we live in. We are bombarded with images of what it is that is accepted within our society, of what we need to do, in order to be accepted within society. Of course we have been programmed to believe that being a part of society is the most important thing, so we thrive to always fit in.

So the freedom we had in being ourselves when we were children, our understanding of what life is about, is stripped away and we are left with who society wants us to be.

Or maybe not, maybe we have realized the lies that have been forced on us. Maybe we have awaken to the deception and we have walked away. Or maybe we have awaken, but we like what we see and still wish to be a part of this society, not completely enmeshed, but present and taking part when the desire comes upon us.

But what has this to do with self respect?

How can we really respect ourselves, if we do not know ourselves, if we do not take the time to acknowledge and honour our feelings, our emotions. If we do not honour the journey, that our life has taken us on, the person that we have become. If we do not love the person we have become. That means accepting everything that we have done. Knowing our beginnings, knowing the truth of the world we live in. Being aware!

For me to really respect myself, I have to be really happy with how I have been living my life, be really happy with the decisions I have made.

Our lives are full of moments that challenge us, that force us to make tough decisions, that take us out of our comfort zone. This is a natural part of life, it is called change and we are being called to act in those moments. How we deal with those moments, how we deal with everything that comes our way, really comes from a place of understanding. Of understanding ourselves, of accepting ourselves. It seems pretty easy doesn't it, to just accept who we are. But we have been programmed differently. Quite intentionally too!

If you follow what is told within society, then you always hear, how important it is to respect others, to respect your elders, to respect the people in authority within your community. We are constantly being told to respect those around us, always looking outwards when it comes to respect. I certainly never got taught any lessons about the importance of respecting oneself. For me this ties in with how we are meant to be laying respect at the feet of our leaders and completely ignore the respect that we need to be giving ourselves and nature.

Respecting myself and respecting nature are the same thing as far as I am concerned. Because I am nature, I am part of the whole, I am connected to all life on this amazing planet and as much as me accepting myself and who I have become is really important. The most important thing is that I respect the fact, that I come from this earth and to this earth I will return. This is the real understanding that I talk about, this is something our children are born knowing and this is where they gain their strength.

This is where my honour lies, this is what I am proud of, living my life in a way that pays respect to the earth, because what I do for the earth I do for myself. So how I nurture my self respect, well it is all in the way I live my life. It is the connection I maintain with nature, the way that I think and act upon my thoughts. It is being aware that I am here to thread lightly, that I am here to be of service to the earth. I nurture the earth and the earth nurtures me. I love and respect myself and that flows from me out into the earth.

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