When you've got it....

Definition:  a sense of pride in oneself; self-respect.

That's the main thing about dignity...if it is missing, it stings.  If we have it, it sustains.

From deep within it springs forth and it sustains our confidence and our belief in ourselves and others.

Dignity is an awesome expression of one's personal worth....it is worth receiving and certainly worth trying to instill in those we love.  The few times I've been found in a condition less dignified than I deserved or desired, I was immersed in negative emotions:  embarrassment, humiliation, regret, disgrace, degredation.  Fortunately, I have rarely experienced the awfulness of loss of dignity.

Personally, I have to thank my parents for teaching me to choose my friends carefully; to take a stand for what I believe; to believe in myself.

To Mom I would credit the teachings of the positive emotions and instilling the desire for those emotions to abide with me...Mom overdid the teaching sometimes...she was a bit fearful and always warning me to be cautious.  But she planted in my heart a desire and joy for being as innocent as possible.  Even as an adult, I still feel innocent and am so disappointed when others bring the undignified 'stuff' into my presence.  Like off-color joking or swearing that just goes a bit too far.  As maturity prevailed over the years, her teachings helped me keep a balance between enjoying the sharing of private and risque things within the context of love and/or mating...as opposed to the bluntness of things salacious for no real purpose.

And it was Dad who helped me see that everything comes back in some way - someday.  So, I think ahead about what might have future value as a funny or serious memory.  

Then, I was so fortunate to grow up when values were fairly uniform across the culture of my home and community.  Things were not so confusing then...more black and white...and the gray areas were more easily explained.

During a long period of time that I shared my life with some of the most wonderufl women I've ever met and befriended, a certain expression became the yardstick for measuring life's experiences.  We asked ourselves, "Is there any eternal value to this?"  

For those who believe in the 'after life' this expression fits perfectly.  We believe that we will arise from our deaths some time in the future as completely healed and spiritual entities and life forever on in that condition.  I don't really understand all of this...what I'll look like; feel like; reason like....or how life in that condition can even be interesting.  Personally, I have never bought into the notion that I'll wear a white robe and sit around singing praises all the time.  How perfectly boring!  What a waste of all the hard lessons of life I"ve been through if a white, shapeless robe is all I get in the end!  I can only hope that the after life is really life at it's best...when every picture I paint will be meaningful and inspring.  And every conection to every spirit around me will be challenging to my intellect and that walking and flying and running will be exhilarating.  And that water will taste immensely refreshing and swimming in an ocean will allow water so clear that we can see the colorful corals and fishes all the way to the bottom.  And, oh, I hope there will be things to design and build for that wonderful sense of accomplishment. That echoes from the mountaintops we effortlessly climb or fly to will make sounds and melodies beyond our earthly expectations.

I'm not smart enough to know about all of this.  But I do know that living within the boundaries of some sort of dignity is the path to getting the best in life here in the present.  To be confident, self-aware, proud, worthy, and able to esteem one's own worth is reason enough to think about and live for.

As a young teen and on into the early years of adulthood, I was taught to make some decisions ahead of their time of importance.  Then, I would not be drawn into the urgency of making important decisions quickly and under pressure to conform to what might not be my goal.  This paid off well for my life.  Long before I grew to have an awesome passionate love for a man, I had decided under what conditions I would give all of myself.  And, oh, how sweet the reward of that earlier decision!  Love became something so wonderful, I could never have imagined it!  

And so it is with so many important decisions....thinking ahead with a dreaming heart and head pay high rewards with few if any regrets.

I feel so grateful, in spite of making some very painful mistakes in life, that most of my life has been free of regret and colored the many beautiful hues of happiness.

Oh, Dignity, how wonderful your rewards and how certain your leading.  How easy to step out of the lonely, desolation of the undignified (people, places, circumstances) by just moving on toward the light and life of dignity.

Isn't it wnderful that life is so forgiving?  Every day, every week, every month or year, we can turn life into something more...

             wonderful...

                       refreshing...

                                  satisfying. 

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I am thankful to many friends and the one I love for accepting me and encouraging dignity in my life.