Life Inspiration: 12 Tips for Successful Living

1. Constant affirmation without accountability is a sure-fire way to cripple a child. In other words, belief in yourself without responsibility leads to a sense of entitlement.

2. Raise your hand if you've ever been rejected for anything, anytime, anywhere. We all have. How would you like to have a nice little four-letter word for the next time you're rejected? It's: NEXT. Next sale, next job, next date, next whatever.

3. Beware of people who use their own emotional pain as a tool to manipulate others instead of as a motivation to change themselves.

4. Parents of teens need to watch out for NMK Syndrome: Not My Kid, as in "my kid couldn't have done ___" (fill in the blank). Well, yes, they could have. Even if you have faithfully raised them not to do certain things, kids still have the power of choice, which means they can make bad choices.

NMK Syndrome can blind you to something that needs immediate attention. Trust in your kids and in your parenting, and always check out what you hear.

5. When you receive a notice in your credit card statement that says, "Congratulations, because of your excellent payment history, there is no minimum fee due this month," it's not a time for celebration. You're still being charged interest. These people are not your friends.

6. It's a humbling and sobering experience to have a child who wants to be like you.

7. I've noticed more and more people doing what I call "caboose living."

Picture a three-car train. The engine in front we'll call facts/reality; the car in the middle is our thoughts, beliefs, decisions, choices and behaviors based on the facts; the caboose is our feelings. The facts/reality come first, then thoughts and behaviors followed by feelings.

Many folks try to run their life train with the caboose (feelings) in the lead. Feelings are interesting and important, but they cannot drive the train. Pay attention to your feelings, but let the facts/reality drive the train.

8. A successful marriage requires selective and strategic ignoring. The right things to ignore are little habits and irritating peculiarities that we all have. The problem comes when you select the wrong things to ignore.

9. I wonder if it's a bad thing to believe that football on TV is one of the first signs of fall approaching.

10. Most folks live with the illusion that worrying about something can actually make a difference. The only possible way that worrying can make a difference is if the worrying motivates you to take action to do something about the subject of your worry.

11.People often say, "Well, I'm just going with the flow." The problem with going with the flow is that many times the flow is lost and does not know where it is going.

12. Best quote I've seen since last time, by Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts: "At some point, though, a problem ought to be defined less by our ability to explain why it happens than by our willingness to demand that it happen no more."

Visit SecretsofGreatRelationships.com for tips and tools for creating and growing a great relationship. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 10 day e-program on how to enrich your relationship today, from relationship coach and expert Jeff Herring.

In The News:
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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20081121/LIFESTYLE/811210303cid=0ei=TZcoSfuYCY_u6gO2ycyACQusg=AFQjCNE51hvaDpvdgEJyhtdxyxPOjIRdeQMinistry of bInspirational/b Therapy holds meeting/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMonroe News Star,nbsp;LAnbsp;-/font nobrNov 20, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1The 18th annual membership meeting of the Ministry of bInspirational/b Therapy was held Nov. 13 at the NELBA building in West Monroe. Gloria Jones, president b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2008/11/a_look_at_the_top_10_inspirati.htmlcid=1272456151ei=TZcoSfuYCY_u6gO2ycyACQusg=AFQjCNEUgzVssnGc-VaZQ5oHOxE39HvBgAimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=vu3u2hnmd9EJimgurl=blog.lehighvalleylive.com/movies_impact/2008/11/large_Titans.jpg width=80 height=52 alt= border=1brfont size=-2The Express Times - LehighValleyLive.com/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2008/11/a_look_at_the_top_10_inspirati.htmlcid=1272456151ei=TZcoSfuYCY_u6gO2ycyACQusg=AFQjCNEUgzVssnGc-VaZQ5oHOxE39HvBgAA look at the top 10 binspirational/b sports movies/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Express Times - LehighValleyLive.com,nbsp;PAnbsp;-/font nobrNov 19, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1It#39;s one of the top ten binspirational/b sports movies of all time. Not so long ago I came across something on the Beliefnet.com Web site about binspirational/b b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/entertainment/index.ssf%3F/base/living-0/1227157523319260.xml%26coll%3D3cid=1272456151ei=TZcoSfuYCY_u6gO2ycyACQusg=AFQjCNFQwJUDE4rCu5HQ04gjILmAhpGd3QSingling out some binspirational/b sports movies, from #39;Titans#39; and b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe Express Times - LehighValleyLive.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272456151hl=ennobrall 2 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20081121/OPINION03/811210312/1005/OPINIONcid=0ei=TZcoSfuYCY_u6gO2ycyACQusg=AFQjCNHt8fZhuNIG99-9D1bq7vkFYOgFxQGuest Viewpoint: Astronaut from Windsor is binspirational/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fPress Sun-Bulletin,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobrNov 20, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Wheelock, a Windsor native, graciously gave of his precious time and his exuberant energy to bring a very informative and binspirational/b message to children b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://www.citywebshopper.net/articles/includes/redirect.php?url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrea-chalupa/7-easy-holiday-gifts-you_b_145736.htmlcid=0ei=TZcoSfuYCY_u6gO2ycyACQusg=AFQjCNHb6mFkZs72ycN51q_xR-Jkf3VSMA7 Easy Holiday Gifts You Can Make/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fHuffington Post,nbsp;NYnbsp;-/font nobr4 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Just write an binspirational/b quote in thick marker across the page or on a little label to stick on your wrapped gift just so you counterbalance all that b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table
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