Self-respect is a Gradual Process
Self respect is a gradual process with many potential realizations. At deeper levels of clarity, we will discover that our life force is a precious and rare resource. In the preparation for awakening/enlightenment we must become most skillful to use this wisely without damaging it. Even for everyday life we need much more self respect for our life force, an aspect of our awareness. Beyond the possibility of physical damage, the delicate life force is involved in psychological damage such as unhealed disappointment, mistrust and damage to safety mechanisms, which leads to living with underlying fear. We can begin by respecting ourselves with at least as much respect as we give to others, but this time let's do it by caring for ourselves as "other". This will bypass our present psychological damage, which has been causing us to heap even more harm onto ourselves. Higher self respect will help us begin to care for ourselves correctly. ~Domo Geshe Rinpoche ~~...