Photo taken in the United Arab Emirates posted courtesy of Akhilesh Sharma and yes, this is Akhilesh :-)
June 10, 2002
"You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime"....Dale Carnegie.
I feel that if I forget the kind words I have offered....they weren't sincere....they were flattery. Sincerity is most important when giving someone a compliment. Otherwise they "know" we are simply saying what we think they want to hear....and sincerity is also important so that we remember what we said. There is a quote that says....you won't have to remember anything if you always tell the truth. Keeping this in mind when we compliment someone helps us to always know what we have told them....
The following is taken from Dale Carnegie's Scrapbook....
"It is beyond a doubt that everyone should have time for some special delight, if only five minutes each day to seek out a lovely flower or cloud or a star, or learn a verse or brighten another's dull task. What is the use of such terrible diligence as many tire themselves out with, if they always postpone their exchange of smiles with Beauty and Joy to cling to irksome duties and relations? Unless they admit these fair, fresh, and eternal presences into their lives as they can, they must needs shut themselves out of heaven, and a gray dust settles on all existence. That the sky is brighter than the earth means little unless the earth itself is appreciated and enjoyed. Its beauty loved gives the right to aspire to the radiance of the sunrise and the stars"....Helen Keller.
And as usual words of others come to mind....in this case, the words of Esau Herrera, once a Mexican-American migrant farm worker...."My theme is to make a difference right here in my own neighborhood. I don't have to fight the whole world. If I do well where I am, it will make a difference in the rest of the world...People want to do and to be better. They need inspiration to change and to try to make a difference. They need a catalyst to inspire faith and to encourage them to take a risk. "The catalysts in my life are often things which no one else really knows....something just happens and causes me to desire to make a difference.
song playing....One Fine Day