01 May Understanding
Standing in someone else’s shoes
It is clearer to understand someone else’s perspective when you attempt ‘to stand in someone else’s shoes’. Your perspective is limited – just like everybody else’s. Your perspective is based on your experiences, your thoughts, your actions and behaviours and it’s sometimes hard to comprehend other points of view which are vastly different from yours.
Your thoughts expand when you view things differently and from a different frame of reference. Everybody brings different points of view to the table, and there are often many ways to see things. The world is full of ideas, concepts and possible ways to learn, grow and develop in a variety of ways that you may not have considered before.
Listen, to understand
By consulting and mostly by listening, we learn more about each other and how come we do the things we do. We also learn more about ourselves when we pay attention to our own response or reaction to a person or a situation.
How often do you find yourself thinking of your response or having your mind go off in tangents while someone else is still talking? Start recognising that this week and recommit to listening tentatively.
The intention to understand fully
Sometimes when we hear or read something we make a decision, a judgement call, and things can be vastly different depending on who is telling the story – here is one story that will show how two different people could have two totally different stories about the same situation. Check it out… https://www.indy100.com/article/man-follow-woman-to-car-anonymous-letter-scary-8637571
Understanding and balance
Another newsworthy article I came across this week involved two well-known actors who were asked to trade insults at each other which apparently went viral. I know trading insults was for the sake of entertainment however I’m still trying to understand the positive side to this sort of amusement – maybe it is because one actor was insulting the other actor by calling them ugly when they are well known for their good looks. Then that actor started insulting the other’s intelligence. Did anyone feel offended or hurt by the other? Is entertainment in his capacity worthwhile?
While entertainment is excellent and something we all need in our lives, to keep our sanity, where does entertainment cross the line? This week I’ve read about the famous people above trading insults. There was a politician who publicly talks up family values being caught out frequenting strip clubs and boasting about how many females of a specific nationality he has been sexually involved with. Then the young man in the prime of his sporting career being imprisoned for rape due to a ‘game’ between him and his mates about how many new women they could have sex with by a specific date and the loser would pay for dinner at a restaurant.
People and emotions
People’s emotions are played with as if they are nothing of value, there’s a total lack of respect shown, and it seems, more often than not these days, that justice does not prevail. The rape victim (mentioned above) stated that she now suffers from PTSD and most nights of the week relives the event, she admires people who have been raped who can hold down a steady, loving relationship because the relationship she was in broke down.
Understanding the importance of educating children about character qualities
When children are raised to be mindful of characteristics and how to practice them daily, they learn to be kind, to be respectful, to be considerate. Children learn that we all have the right to be respected and learn to be respectful of others as well as learn to have the courage and confidence in speaking up honestly and tactfully when they feel their boundaries have been crossed. Children are our future citizens, managers, and world leaders – teach them always to be kind, be kind, be kind.
Join our tribe
If you’d like to join our tribe in focussing on a characteristic each week, learning more about yourself, further developing yourself and building your self awareness and self-confidence then please join us via the link on our front page – https://ethicalfoundations.com.au/
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