|| Respect People's Feelings ||

Respect people's feelings. There are some very nice lines narrated by one of the well-known psychologists, that "feelings are the best when you learn to flow in it rather than drowning in it". Any relationships of life only survive if there are feelings of respect for understanding. Today, what any senior citizens in our house need from their family is that the family members spend time with them, all the family members respect them for their experience and respect the feelings as for them it's everything. In today's rat race, youngsters may have very little time to spend with their parents or any senior citizens in the house but for parents it's everything. Parents just want to see that their kids are happy. The same goes for respecting the feelings of your spouse or your friends or your family members as sometimes those feelings and warmth make a major influence in our lives or in someone's life. Feelings and warmth of someone around you always give you the courage to conquer anything in life.

Radha-Krishna always respected each other's feelings and also gave respect to everyone's feelings around them. Radha did listen and gave respect to her parents by sacrificing her love and Krishna also sacrificed his love life for others. Krishna and Radha taught us how a relationship is important and strong if it has values and respect in it. A poor Sudama, a friend of Krishna, came to meet him with a gift of beaten rice wrapped in a small cloth. Though Krishna knew that Sudama is feeling low, giving him such a small gift, Krishna welcomed his friend, greeted him with flowers and not only made him sit on his precious chair but also washed his toes as rituals of respect and then, on his own, asked for his gift. With a warm heart, Sudama gave his gift but the respect reflected by Krishna towards him brought the best smile of happiness on Sudama's face. Sudama helped his friend Krishna in difficult times and he got rewarded by Krishna in a big way so this Sudama-Krishna narration helps us understand that we need to help everyone. You never know when it gets converted into the best blessings of your life. 

To respect the feelings of others, you need to first analyze your own self. If you understand, then in life you meet so many people; some are smarter than you, some people have nicer things than you in terms of money or status or facilities in life, some may make more money than you. It doesn't matter, you have your things too. What's important in life is that you need to be a person who is honest. Be a person who is generous, who is happy for other people, and be a person who does the right thing to survive and gives strength to make any relationship better in life. Mother Teresa is the right personality to make us understand this. We all need not be like her but at least we can give respect to our own friends and family members when they are in need. The real help for society starts from your own house.

In my 29 years of practice, I have seen only a few sons accompanying their fathers when they need help to hear. The majority of the time, daughters accompany their parents. I remember I had one patient who, himself, had a doctorate and his son was one of the busiest doctors in town but he took a half-day off and came with his father to buy a new hearing aid. I asked, "You are so busy, you should have called me or your father would have come with his help." What a lovely answer he gave- I respect your time and my father needs my time to make decisions for himself though he can do it on his own, and I need to respect that. What a humble father-son relationship and one more thing to notice is that this doctor-patient, whenever he comes to my clinic, not only gives my fees but also gives me blessings with that. He always sends a birthday card on my birthday. What I understood out of this is that God arranges to meet with every person around us but, how you maintain that relationship with others is totally in your hands.

Any parent, however difficult situations they are in or passing by, wants to do the best for their kids. Parents help their kids best, though they are struggling because they love their kids first. Their life is full of education and making the lives of their kids but when it comes to returning the love to our parents, do we really do the same? In our life, apart from our parents, there are a few people who really want to help even though they are struggling so like our parents we should also give equal love and time to those few people as they are the real ones who care for you and respect your feelings.

A friend who understands your tears is much more valuable than a lot of friends who only know your smile. "A friend in need is a friend indeed". I have two hearing-impaired kids who were underprivileged, studying in a special school, and who are best friends who always come together to my clinic. One day I think they had a fight in school and one of them broke his hearing aid so I asked why did you fight? The other boy said, 'we were fighting with love. It's ok. I also broke my hearing aid so now both of us need hearing aids to repair.' I mean those two kids were so amazing, they laughed and converted their fight into love for each other. That was a true friendship that I got inspired by. I think this was a really good example to show respect for each other's feelings.

Few friends or people love us and have respect for our feelings they are the ones who defend us when we are not around. They are the most loyal friends you could ever get. I remember once, during my visit to the US, I went out with my mentor and who is also my friend now, he took us for lunch with his staff and we were in a Korean restaurant and food was served with chopsticks and one of the staff asked me whether I'm comfortable to eat with chopsticks or not. My mentor, before I could talk, confidently said yes. "Yes, she knows everything, travels a lot so she is aware of all cuisines and the styles of having food." Frankly speaking, I didn't know how to eat with chopsticks so I quietly said ya but I will prefer to eat with a spoon and he understood that I may not know so he made a light comment saying, "yes yes, don't worry it's your time to relish this delicious Korean food so just be comfortable and enjoy and eat the way you want." I really admire my guide. The way he protected me and the kind of respect he gave me by understanding the situations. You rarely meet such kind of people in your life so you must acknowledge them.

When we get an "A" on our report card, we feel so special and it makes a special impact on our life. Likewise, the three "A"s-Acknowledgement, Appreciation, and Acceptance are the three special things that make an impact on our lives and our relationships. I have so many friends from different parts of the world whom I meet in conferences and whenever I go to meet them, I carry a small gift for them from India and they acknowledge so well and enthusiastically, immediately open it in front of me and appreciate the small gesture done by you. Now, whenever I go, before I say, they ask me what I've gotten for them from India this time?? Those friends have also helped me grow in my profession and been my guides wherever I come across difficulties. That proves that respect for feelings doesn't see cast, religion, or country. It's the way you express it for another person.

So always value and respect your relations because they will bring richness to your life. It's respect for your parents or your family or your friends or your professional friends or people who are working with/ under you. Respect of feelings for others reflects goodness everywhere.