Your Bill of Rights

Example

My rights are to:

Express my own feelings and opinions

Be listened to and taken seriously

Say no without feeling guilty

Ask for what I want

Make mistakes

Be wrong

Have others apologize when they wrong me

Be treated with respect

Set my own priorities

Get what I pay for

Be told the truth

Speak the truth

Question others

Make my own decisions

Disagree with others

Say nothing when I do not want to speak

Determine my own future

Try out new ideas

Abstain, not voting if I do not have an opinion

Appeal against unfairness

Hold my own beliefs

Have relationships with others

Change my mind

Have my own space

Grab opportunities

Take risks

Dress as I wish

Discussion

The above example includes many rights that we actually have, yet which many people do not think they have.

The notion of 'Rights' is a human conception. Rights are ideas that we socially construct, creating beliefs and agreeing values about what is right and wrong, allowed and not allowed. We then ascribe these rights to people. Some rights are universal, with everyone having the rights. Others are rights for different groups such as young, old, poor, rich, kin, enemy and so on.

As a part of this, we assume rights for ourselves that may be different to rights of others. When people take a subservient, passive role, they assume they have fewer rights than those who act in a dominant way. This assumption of rights is at the root of the different behaviors of these two groups and can be seen in the different styles of body language.

To be assertive is, in many ways, simply to adopt equal rights. If you believe (or just act) in a way that assumes you have the rights that you ascribe to others, you make yourself equal to them. This can be a huge breakthrough for many people.

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