Love grows with those who help with a smile

An interesting study is about to be unveiled shortly at a Toronto conference this month that should shed a little light on why some relationships continue to grow… while others wain and still others expire. In the past, too much time — I think — has been spent to try to understand why relationships fail, so it is very refreshnig to look at the real trick … why do some relationships work?

Personal acts of kindness done with a smile go a long way to keep a realtionship warm 

Most people believe that it is the big and little sacrifices we do for each other that shows how much we care. However, this is only part of the story. What most folks don’t know — and research is beginning to show — is that sacrifices ‘willingly’ made… ‘cheerfully’ given… are the ones that endear us to others. Possibly, because we recognize that although their effort and kindness is a ‘choice’, they care more about our needs than their own inconvenience.

When someone does something ‘willingly’ for you — you know at a most profound level — that someone loves you. It is hard not to love someone in return who will move across the country, change jobs, or do the dishes with a smile. The smile makes all the difference.

So, if you are troubled about your relationship(s), ask yourself… what have I done to lighten another’s burden, to help advance some of their dreams or to put their happiness over my own? You’ve failed, if it is ‘all about you.’

As in the “Princess Bride”, sometimes the best answer to any request is”… as you wish.” And don’t forget to look them in the eye… and smile.

Roger Freberg

Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

 

I really don’t want to pick on ex-President Jimmy Carter. Frankly, I am sure that what bothers him most is that no one really takes him seriously… even those I know who “like him.”

He’s not the kinda guy you would want to take with you as protection walking through a dark alley. At the first sign of danger, you’d know you were a dead man.

Every time I pick up the paper or peek into the web, I see Jimmy dissing some person here or there and you can’t help but feel sorry for the guy who no one will trust with anything scarier than a rabbit.

My wife is related to President Van Buren, the founder of the Democratic party and labled by many as the country’s worst president. However, I think her ancestor is off the look because Jimmy has closed the distance.  Anyone who has lived through the ‘Jimster’ years of double diget inflation or the ‘walk softly and carry a big petticoat’ years of foreign policy will remember how we all hoped and prayed for a vigorous America. So, I have a hard time taking  Jimmy Carter very seriously,  he’s just so wrong.

What others are saying:

Iran Loves Jimmy!
Jimmy Going to Bangladesh
Off to Nepal

Judges have  selected Jimmy as this century’s big weenie award winner!

Roger Freberg
(PS. there has been some talk about renaming the award ‘the Jimmy’)