By Carrie Fleharty

I was at a restaurant recently, and a young woman was our server, and she had a frown on her face. I said, "How are you today?" She responded short and curt. "Fine. What would you like to drink?" She wasn't into this 'let's talk and be cordial, for we might have a little more fun in our day.' No, she was definitely one of those who just wanted to get through the day. Lately, I've been into talking to people who serve me, and they think it's a nice change, and they enjoy that someone shows interest and cares about them.

What would happen if you were a server at a restaurant and you actually smiled and talked congenially with your customers? I would bet that you would receive a bigger tip than most. That smile would inform others that you are a warm and friendly person. No matter what kind of job you have, a smile is worth a thousand words.

For the day, monitor what really happens after you share your smile. How many smile back? How many look away or grunt? Hopefully with your smile will come your positive energy and vibration. The smile makes a "you care" kind of statement to the world... that you truly have meaning behind that smile, especially if you share kind words. In business, you want to attract customers, clients, and others. You want to attract people who believe in you. The smile is the first action step taken in creating and attracting success.

Think about the real definition of "smile." I would guess that the corners of your mouth have already turned up into that smile. Along with that smile comes a warm feeling inside your heart. Smiling will enhance your business and your life. Add the words "hi" or "hello" to that smile and the world will be yours.

What do you take for granted? How much do you spend on really saying a word of gratitude? Think about this long and hard. Close your eyes and follow your day inside your mind. Did you say thank you to the people in your life who did something for you? Here's where we get messy and find our behavior part. Even though people who do something may well be people who are expected to do something for the business, wouldn't it be nice to say to them, "Hey, thank you for a job well done"? If you are in the service kind of business, wouldn't it be a great gesture to say, "Hey, thanks for being here, and I appreciate the hard work you've been doing"?

The words "thank you" for some of us are very hard to express. This could be just as easily accomplished as the smile. Begin to make it a habit to incorporate it within your day. You want that "thank you" to have meaning, so it's best not to overdo and use it generically all the time and for every situation. No, "thank you" needs to be sincere and earnest. "Thank you" will allow more abundance and success in your endeavors.

"Please" is another word from the English language that is becoming extinct. I am a school librarian, and I see our students who are 19 years old and younger who have no idea what the words "please" and "thank you" are, much less how to use them. For all I know, they don't know how to express their gratitude, and they've never been taught. This is kind of scary to me because these young kids will be the future leaders of many types of businesses, or working for others. I firmly believe that the words "please" and "thank you" go a long way in creating a link to the human race.

All of these words are for everyone to use and use them at any moment. You may use them from the grocery store checkout line to the bank drive-in. Whenever a transaction occurs between you and others, use "please" and "thank you" and your day will improve. Let's take that server at the beginning of this article. If she could have smiled when I gave her a smile, then I believe her day would have been better. The goal is to attract what you want and desire. Even if you are experiencing or come in contact with someone who has a "bad day," this is where you need to use your mouth to smile, and adding the words "please" and "thank you."

These words -- "smile," "please," and "thank you" -- have a deeper meaning beyond just being polite and beyond everyday usage. No matter whether you are the boss, the custodian, the waiter, or the server, your day will improve with a smile, a please, and a thank you. Go out into the world today and please smile. Thank you.

About the Author:

Carrie Fleharty by day is a mild-mannered school librarian, but at night she's a word junkie. She is now a personal life coach and associate editor of http://www.success.bz. She intends to keep improving her life and keeps challenging herself to become a better person. She thoroughly enjoys expressing herself through the written word and has written two books: "Changes and Shifts: A Personal Journey" and "A Poet's Mind and Soul."

"You make your own dream. That's the Beatles' story, isn't it? That's Yoko's story.

That's what I'm saying now.

Produce your own dream.

If you want to save Peru, go save Peru. It's quite possible to do anything, but not to put it on the leaders and the parking meters.

Don't expect Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or John Lennon or Yoko Ono or Bob Dylan or Jesus Christ to come and do it for you.

You have to do it yourself.

That's what the great masters and mistresses have been saying ever since time began. They can point the way, leave signposts and little instructions in various books that are now called holy and worshiped for the cover of the book and not for what it says, but the instructions are all there for all to see, have always been and always will be.

There's nothing new under the sun. All the roads lead to Rome.

And people cannot provide it for you.

I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you."

-John Lennon's Dream for the 80's

And now, for your entertainment -IMAGINE by John Lennon which is one of the most prolific songs ever created by one of the world's great musicains / peace activists .This song has stood the test of time and is an anthem for peace ....Wait for the intro...very beautiful and artistic video.

-by Margaret Ruth

Margaret Ruth's Four Things Necessary for a Whole Love Relationship

Margaret Ruth, I am heart broken over my break up. What went wrong, we were so in love?

Margaret Ruth, I have made so many mistakes in love. What do I need to be certain of a long term, happy marriage?

Intimate love relationships can obviously be the most rewarding and the most painful to many people. After thousands of clients and radio callers describing their pain and uncertainty about finding love with someone, but not having it end in a happy, long term marriage like commitment, I've noticed that there four things -- no more and no less -- that dictate whether a relationship will go the distance and still remain personally fulfilling and healthy.

No matter the ages, genders or cultures involved, there are four things that need to be in place to be assured of a long term, healthy, evolving, committed love relationship. If you are missing any of these, you will get something other than a long term, healthy, joyful relationship. You might get a short term happy relationship or a long term sub-happy relationship (this is the kind most seen in our culture), but you will not get it all unless the relationship has all of these.

Margaret Ruth's Four Things

1. Love
This seems to help.

2. Connection
This is that something extra, a sense of inevitability, or pulls that binds two people together. Some call it chemistry, or soul connection. It is a certain indefinable, irresistible pull; you might have experienced this yourself at some point. This is the one point of the four of which I am least certain, however this seems to be that important glue that takes a love between two people from a sibling, family type of love into a life mate type of love.

3. Shared Vision
One unique, great vision plus another unique, great vision equals a third, larger vision that everyone likes. At best, the math here is: 1 plus 1 = 3 as two people come together and create more than was possible alone. Good examples of this are children, a new family, or a new home.

The individual visions do not have to be the same, but they cannot cancel each other out. For instance, if one person needs to live on a sailboat, the other on a ranch, you might have a relationship that is healthy and happy for a short term only.

4. It Takes Two Healthy, Joyful, Whole people to Make One Healthy, Joyful, Whole Relationship. There are No Exceptions to this. Ever.
This is the one that forces most love relationships to be less than excellent. The key point here is to require both people to be emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually healthy. I consider people healthy if they are self aware, know what is true for them and express this as clearly as possible. They are fairly free of insecurities and self destructive tendencies. Healthy people take care of themselves. They have good boundaries as they are comfortable with their individual identities. There is quite a bit to say about what makes a healthy, joyful and whole person, but I think you might get the idea.

The next crucial point is that the over all health and happiness of a relationship is dictated by the least healthy person in it. In order to have and maintain something really fulfilling and expanding, each individual in the relationship must be committed to holding up their 50% by conducting it in as happy, healthy manner as they can figure. In order to do this, they must be healthy and happy themselves. There are friendships where one person might not be very healthy but can hold up his or her 50% in a healthy manner -- however, I have never seen that work in the extreme closeness of an intimate love over the long run. Have you?

For the rest of the article, please click here to go to Huffington Post. Thank you.

1. Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one so that when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

2. Love is when you take away the feeling, the passion, and the romance in a relationship and find out that you still care for that person.

3. When the door of happiness closes, another opens but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us.

4. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

5. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives.

6. There are things you'd love to hear that you would never hear from the person who you would like to hear from, but don't be so deaf as not to hear it from the one who says it from their heart.

7. Don't go for looks, they can deceive. Don't go for wealth, in the end it fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright.

8. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go, be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

9. A careless word may kindle strife, a cruel word may wreck a life, a timely word may level stress, a loving word may heal and bless.

10. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

11. Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

12. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches..

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