My dear friends,

There are I believe many true words written in the image above. Words that reflect some of the problems we have in this world, where one country believes it is greater than another, one religion believes it is the only religion, one corporate which believes it is the only business on earth or one person who believes they are better than you or I, or one media outlet which believes it is the only voice or opinion to what is going on in our world!

When I sit down and talk to anyone, I use empathy, I listen with the intent to understand, I may not fully agree with everything that person says but I will observe their thoughts and treat them with respect in the understanding that they will offer me the same levels of support and courtesy. This is how I was brought up. I remember my grandfather talking to us children and saying that everyone we come to meet in our lives irrespective of their name, their title, the colour of their skin, their job etc was to be treated with the same levels of courtesy and respect and I have thankfully remembered those words all my life, I still get sad when I see people being treated badly, often on the street, in restaurants, service counters and of course the media, where people think ‘They’ are better and look down upon the people they are talking to (or often shouting at)!

Wouldn’t it be nice for once to have a world full of respect, where ‘We’ as human beings started to actually respect each other, to look at each other eye to eye, to look inside the eyes of the person we are talking to and to see their soul, to connect with empathy and to listen with actual intent to understand what they are saying or trying to say, to reflect on their thoughts and digest the emotions that are shown to us before we respond with our reply.

I believe that respect is a genuine staring place towards world peace, once respect is established, we can foster love, build relationships and live happier lives.

Just a thought…..

Namaste with love
Always
Mark