Laughter

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." -Victor Borge

Feelings is what allows people to understand each other and laughing with someone creates a common ground on which friendship can blossom.
Laughing releases tension, destroys psychological walls and put people in a good mood. It' s difficult to hate someone that make us laugh.

"Laughter brings us together in a beautiful and sometimes miraculous way." -Chris Brady

What's Maturity?

"Even happy emotions can be out of control. Say what's sincere, then stop. Gushing emotions suggest immaturity." -Dianna Booher

Too often I hear that someone is immature because he likes legos or cartoons (or whatever) but maturity isn't determined by what you like or dislike. Maturity is determined by how well you can control your emotions. Some people learn how to control their emotions at an early age while others never learn how to do so.

Understanding your feelings and how they spur is the first step on becoming mature. Learn more by reading great books on personal development.

The Lost Art of the Face to Face Conversation

The information age generated a wealth of new ways to communicate. We can text, email, use social media (etc...) to keep in contact with people

In many cases, technology replaced the face to face conversation. Most people today spend more time in-front of a screen than in-front of other people. We've created a generation of introverts.

What use to be comfortable and nature for us is now lost. We forgot how to interact with each other face to face. We're uncomfortable around people and it will get worse unless we do something about it.

Go and talk in-front of people!

Speaking Too Much

"A sentence should have no unnecessary sentences for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts." - William Strunk

Speaking too much is worse than speaking too little. Those who speak too much are sometime seen as annoying while those who speak too little are either seen as shy or good listeners.

"Just because you know something doesn't mean you have to say something. If the thought occurs that you may be rambling on too long, you are." -Dianna Booher

It’s What you Know

“From the neck down you're worth minimum wage, from the neck up your opportunity is unlimited.” - Zig Ziglar

I’ve come across one person who saved up, over a period of 20 + year, to a million dollars and I have read about people who got hired for a million dollar a year. On both occasion, it’s the way they think that made them millionaires.

“You will do the work of a millionaire whether you become one or not.” -Orrin Woodward

The energy needed to become a millionaire is the same than working at a job. We all have 24 hours in a day, it’s what we do with the time we have that makes a difference.

How to Resolve Conflict

Pride is usually at the origin of timely conflict. The strongest person is the one who will admit their fault first.

If you want a conflict to be resolved in a timely matter, find something you did wrong, admit your fault to the other person involved and ask for forgiveness.

The majority of the time, the other person will say something along the lines of "I was also wrong, here's why" or "I forgive you".

Atheist Definition by John Locke

Locke felt that a person who calls himself an “atheist” is merely confessing that he has never dealt with the issue of the Creator’s existence. Therefore, to Locke an atheist would be to that extend “irrational,” and out of touch with reality; in fact, out of touch with the most important and fundamental reality.
-Page 96 of “The 5000 year leap, Principles of Freedom 101” by author “W. Cleon Skousen”

Religion teaches how to be a good person. It makes you look at yourself and put in evidence what needs to change to become the best you that you can be.

You can say “I don’t need this, I’m nice already”. According to you; you are. But who are you to come up with such judgment?

The Lion and the Gazelle

The Lion goes to sleep at night knowing that he’s going to have to run faster than the slowest Gazelle. The Gazelle goes to sleep at night knowing that he’s going to have to run faster than the slowest Gazelle.

The Lion run because he will starve to death if he doesn’t. The Gazelle run for his life.

Are you a Lion or a Gazelle? If I would tell you that we’re all trained to be lions for the promise of eating Gazelle for the last years of our lives, would you believe me?

We’re trained to run for our food for 45 years of our life on the promise of having free food after that. There’s a problem though, the promise of free food, after 45 years, won’t be there. So why are we still running for food? Shouldn’t we be running for our lives?

The 4 People Interview

Have you ever been interviewed by 4 people at the same time and wondered why that was?

Most personality books describes 4 personality types and chances are that the people interviewing you each have one of those personalities.

When you're being interviewed by only one person, you'll probably only be hired if you're of the same personality type as they are. Having 4 people doing the interview increases the chances of having a more balance office (personality wise).

Good often goes Unnoticed

Communication is the most important thing in a relationship. If you've been in relationships where the communication was good, you might not come to the same conclusion as I did. On the other side of the coin, if you've had communication problem in a previous relationship - you might also have come to the same conclusion.

Good goes unnoticed simply because we don't think about it if we don't have to. You only check on a car engine once you notice a problem - why would you check on it otherwise? This is why we learn the most about ourselves when we go through tough times.

Be Yourself

Life is a crazy place. Sometime, you will love people that don't love you back and other time you'll have people love you that you don't love back. What do you do when you find someone that you're interested in but she's not interested in you?

Be yourself. It's better to have someone hate you for who you are than to have them love you for who you're not. If someone falls in love with someone that you're not, you won't be able to keep the act up and that person will likely loose interest when you become your "old self".

Relationship Needs

A relationship is an agreement to take care of each other's needs. If the needs aren't met within the relationship, it will either end or an affair will develop with someone who is filling that need.

Sometimes, it can be hard for someone to identify what the needs are which is why it's important to read books such as "His Needs Her Needs" by Willard F. Harley, Jr.
It's important to identify those needs early and to discuss them to try to find solutions.

Remove the Elephant

Every relationships has elephants and if they're left alone, they not only stay ... They also get bigger. It's important to point them out as soon as we're aware of their presence.

How to Forgive

Forgiveness is about forgetting the hurt someone did to us and focus on the good when it comes to that person. It's telling ourselves "yes he did hurt me that one time but he did all these things that I appreciate".
It is easier to forgive someone when we don't take ourselves so seriously. How can we be mad at someone when they say something bad about us when we agree or turn it into a joke about ourselves?

What Ever You Say

There will be more of what you say about someone - Good or bad. Because 1- you will notice it more once you share it with them and 2- they will be more likely to do what you pointed out to them.

Be sure the comment is positive so you don't end up encouraging a negative behaviour.

How to Tell Someone You're Annoyed With Something They Do

When something someone is doing is annoying to you, you can either keep it for yourself or let them know about it.

The direct approach, while clearly identifying the issue, is the most offensive one to use. If you say "I hate when you do this", it immidiately put the other person on the defensive.
It's better to use a more subtle approach like "My friend keeps doing this and it annoys me greatly" and hope the other person caught on - which most of them do. This approach is about the person you're talking to but isn't directly to them. The next time they're about to do the thing that annoyed you, they'll think twice about it.

It's important to note that changing is hard and while you can tell people what you find annoying with them in hopes that they change, you also have to change yourself to accept people more.

Common Not So Common Courtesy

Some conversations may be about things that are of no interest to you. The polite thing to do is to listen and take part in the conversation regardless - not because it's of interest to you but because it's interesting for them.

With that being said, you must also be okay with the fact that the favor might not be returned.

Friendly Advice

When someone comes to you to share a burden, it is not the time for you to give advice. Just listen.

I learned that there’s no good advice to give during those times. People usally know what to do with their problems unless they state otherwise… If you give advice when it’s not needed, it can be seen as you’re trying to brush their problem off.