Having friends is a good thing. Having friends is an important thing. I have a lot of friends in my life. Some friends are more important than others. Some friends are like family. Actually, I guess, some friends are even closer than family. There’s an old saying that friends are the family that you get to choose. With family, you’re born with them, whether you like it or not. With friends, you certainly get to choose, and even choose which friends are the very close ones. I have a very close friend, Bebe. Yesterday morning she sent me a text message telling me that her mother was very sick and was near death.  I told her that I … [Read more...]

I believe that for the most part, it is our choice whether we are happy or unhappy in life.  I choose to be happy. I say “for the most part” because there is no such thing as perfect 100% 24/7 happiness.  But, we can achieve general happiness where we are on balance happy.  Of course, bad things happen to everybody, but even some bad things can, in the end, bring us happiness.  It just depends on how we choose to deal with our problems.  Somebody once told me that problems are just opportunities for us, and how we choose to handle those opportunities determines the outcome and how such problems, er.. opportunities affect us … [Read more...]

Over the past 6 months or so, I have written on this site and some of my other websites about Arnie and Irish.  Arnie and Irish are two young girls that we befriended some months back.  You can find my story about them here on Habits for Smart People, by going to Helping others sometimes has consequences.  Basically, Arnie and Irish came to our house one day looking for recyclable materials that they could sell and make a bit of money so they could buy some food to eat. Arnie is 9 years old and Irish is 6.  They both look to be about half of their age, due to malnutrition, and general neglect.  Their family has no money.  They have … [Read more...]

I imagine that few of us think about this – making ourselves extraordinary.  I think that most of us, if we think about this at all, just think that “hey, I am who I am, take it or leave it.”  There is nothing wrong with that attitude, I suppose, but you can do so much better. You can make yourself extraordinary.  You can make yourself a cut above the average guy.  And, to be honest, it’s not all that hard to do either.  If you want to do it, you can do it.  It’s up to you. How you can make yourself extraordinary. How can you do it?  Honestly, it’s so simple, just do a little bit more than you are … [Read more...]

The days in which we are living are filled with so much technology.  Everything we do revolves around technology in some way, it would seem.  Nothing wrong with that, it’s just so different than things were 20 or 30 years ago. In my case, I earn my living due to technology.  I make my living on the Internet, so without technology, I could not live the life that I live.  Frankly, I love technology and what it brings to our lives.  I don’t know where I would be without it. The latest technology in our lives, for most of us, revolves around Social Media.  Sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others are fixtures in our … [Read more...]

A lot of things in life come down to communication, friends.  If you fail to communicate, it can lead to ill feelings, misinterpretation, and ultimately to a loss of friendship or even a loss of job or other important things in your life. When there is a problem, or if you perceive a problem, talk about it. If you think that somebody has done something to slight you, go to that person and ask about the perceived problem.  The chances are that the person is unaware of any problem, and did not mean anything against you in whatever was said or done.  There is only one way to find out, though, and that is to talk it over with the person that … [Read more...]