“It is more shameful to distrust our friends than to be deceived by them.” (─Confucius) A Reader, whom I’ll call “Tom” writes, “In my 45 years of living on this planet life experience and living has much more frequently than not taught me that people are not to be trusted and that sooner or later you will be hurt by whomever …
Miscommunicating and Making Assumptions
Isn’t life a series of interactions with others? That being so, it makes getting along with people of primary importance. After all, if our interactions are pleasant, we’ll have a happy life, but if they are filled with conflict, rancor, and resentment we’ll be unhappy. Why do so many people struggle with getting along with others? Two of the many …
Gaining Control over Your Life
I’m all in favor of kindness and service to others, but not when it means allowing others to manipulate us. Refusing to allow others to walk all over us is not about being selfish or self-centered, but of being self-aware. It’s about understanding that we are responsible for our own lives. If we GIVE IN to others, we GIVE UP on …
Handling Infidelity – Friendship, Intimacy, Love, and Breakup
Nature is a great teacher. A walk in a forest can teach us about life and help us to experience something far greater than ourselves. Suppose you came upon a colony of mushrooms decorating the forest floor, what would you see? At first, you may believe the hundreds of mushrooms are individual plants, but actually they are all parts of …
When a Good Relationship Turns Bad
What do you do when a good relationship turns bad? Do you work hard to save the relationship? Do you ignore the problems? Or do you separate? What follows is a dialog between two people: myself and a fellow I’ll call James, who, even though he is suffering in a bad relationship, has been doing everything he can to avoid …
RELATIONSHIPS: The Source of Happiness or… Troubles
Your relationships could be a great source of health and happiness, or a great source of… problems. Your relationships with your spouse, children, family members, friends and co-workers, deserve love and respect, and no one has the right to hurt anyone. Supposedly, a good relationship will lift you up, not drag you down; but for some people, the reality …
5 Keys to a Gratifying Life and Trouble-Free Relationships
Key 1: Awareness Most of us, most of the time, are asleep. That is, we live most of our life on autopilot. Automatically reacting to whatever comes our way. Little or no thought precedes our actions. Yet, if we are to appreciate life, grow, and discover our own greatness, we must awaken from our slumber. Spiritual teacher, Father Anthony De …
Love and Marriage
One of our readers is a 29-year-old male, Muslim, born and raised in the Indian subcontinent, studied in Europe, moving to the Middle East after his studies to work in management, and later moved to another European capital where he now lives and where he obtained a graduate degree. In this article, I will call him Fani, which is an …
Building Better Business Relationships
Although the focus of this article may be on business relationships, much of what follows applies to all relationships. The subject is an important one; after all, if we treasure our possessions, job, reputation, or power more than our relationships, all will suffer. In fact, the quality of our lives will be determined by the quality of our relationships. Moreover, …
If You Would Have a Good Wife, Be a Good Husband
I. The Problem A 34-year-old engineer from India asks about a marital problem. I will call him Aastik, a name that means “who has faith in God.” Aastik writes, “I have been married for nine years, have a son, and live with my wife and parents. My younger sisters got married about the same time as me. Despite my parent’s …