A valuable principle to keep in mind is: Leave people feeling better about themselves as a result of having met you.

Some people take pleasure in putting others down. It makes them feel more powerful to make others feel lower. In reality, the perpetration of such a crime lowers and demeans the perpetrator rather than the victim.

The person who leaves others feeling better about themselves elevates himself. The question to ask yourself is, “What can I say to this person that will give him a positive feeling?”

Be sincere in what you say. The goal is not to flatter or to give people a false sense of having a positive quality or attribute that they are missing. Rather the goal is to keep on developing your own “good eye” to see the positive in each person. When you develop positive feelings about other people, not only what you say will make them feel good but also how you say it. And not only your words will accomplish this, also the look on your face and your smile.

Use enthusiastic expressions. Instead of saying, “Not bad,” you can say, “That was really good.” Instead of saying, “That was o.k.,” you can say, “You’Â’re doing great.” Instead of saying, “That seems right,” you can say, “That was very insightful.”

Here are some other possibilities:

* “I admire your kindness.”
* “I respect the way you handled that.”
* “You have a lot of courage to do that.”
* “That was magnificent of you.”
* “I find you an inspiration.”
* “There is a lot that I can learn from you.”
* “You are so kind to have said that to me.”
* “Your goodness is so much a part of you that you take it for granted.”
* “Every time I see you I feel happier.”
* “Whenever I meet you, I remember the kindness you have done for me.” From Kindness: Making a Difference in People’s Lives: Formulas, stories, and insights By Zelig Pliskin

Popularity: 8% [?]

• How do you know if you are making the right decision I can't answer this one, but it's a tough question. Thinking can get you into trouble. Too much introspection can be begloom-ing. (I really do like that word.) There have been several times in my life when I made a decision against the grain and acted on it. And sometimes......
• The elusive nature of happiness, part 3 [The late David Lykken, a professor at the University of Minnesota, concluded, based on 3 decades of research on twins, much of it identical twins raised apart] that 50% of our proclivity for happiness or for melancholy (our 'set point') is determined by our genes. "From person to person, the......
• How not to look or be old Recently I've been thinking about the subject of youth and age and what constitutes beauty. Is beauty cookie cutter, the way some plastic surgeons make their patients? Does everyone have to look the same? Is there a difference between elderly and aged? A friend's mother was elderly at age 50,......
• Having an edge Seems like everyone is looking for an edge nowadays, something to make one stand out from the crowd, from the ordinary, to show one's uniqueness in a sea of similarity. I get a lot of compliments on my nose pierce, which I did several years ago, because I always liked......
• Review: Avon Age Repair Elixir You all know how much I love most Avon products. It should be no surprise that I tried this one. Avon is quite innovative in its skin care products. They are the first in many skin technologies and have a state of the art facility. Pluses The packaging is gorgeous.......

• Starting your Corporate Blogging Effort Consider this to be your quick and painless guide to starting a corporate blog both effectively and practically. 1 - Begin by defining your purpose. This may sound obvious, but many bloggers do not think of their editorial purpose until well into the life of their blog. Exploring social media......
• I Am Perfect, You Are Not - A Failure Of The Green Movement. I have written before about the problems of forcing people to "go green" beyond their comfort level, but today I want to talk about those of you in the movement who look down on people who cannot live your exact lifestyle in an effort to save the planet. I get......
• Commitment and Consistency in Personal Development Commitment and consistency are the cornerstones of persuasion as discussed by Robert Cialdini. Although they are essential to persuasion of other people, you might be asking yourself what it has to do with personal development. It's pretty  simple. For anything in the field of personal development to be truly effective......
• Principles for Good Blog Design, pt 1 Most of the open source blogging platforms out there are going to come with at least a few different basic blogging designs. Some platforms call them themes, others call them templates, and others still have completely unique names for them. Most of these basic themes or templates have nothing inherently......
• Starting up a business The following is an interview with Nicole, who recently left her full-time job to put her effort into her business. She wrote about the process on her blog, but I had more questions for her. Her business is Breaking Even Communications, which is a full-service internet marketing and web content......

Guest writer, Quotations, Relationships