Maintaining Good Relationships: Lessons from Blackberries

blackberries give ideas for maintaining good relationships

What does blackberry picking have to do with maintaining good relationships? At this time of year, blackberries are an irresistible temptation to me. I cannot help but pick them, so I always keep a plastic bag in my jacket pocket. Going for a walk is much more exciting and fulfilling when you come back with a…

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Sticking your neck out

sticking your neck out

Thinking about sticking your neck out and changing things? Feeling reluctant and a bit ashamed of being scared? Don’t be. Humans naturally resist change. Evolution hardwired us to be wary when our surroundings are different. This instinct has meant humanity has survived. Yet sometimes, sticking your neck out is the only way to move forward. We…

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Why is asking for help so hard? Tips to do it well.

asking for help Ask, accept, acknowledge

I have a confession to make. I like many others am a help addict. We get a buzz out of helping others, and sometimes forget to let others have the chance to get that buzz. We hate asking for help but love giving. What do I mean? At a networking event, the delicious array on the…

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How to Reset a Bad Day–With a Smile

Reset bad day with smile

ad You know those days when everything seems to go wrong and you wish the day had a reset button? Well, amazingly, there is something that works just like one. A smile.  So how do you reset a bad day with a smile when you’re already down in the dumps? Fake it? Well, although some…

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Health & Safety Message Ignored? Try a Different Approach

  Health & Safety Message Ignored? Try a Different Approach Is your health & safety message ignored? At Christmas time, no one wants to think about dangers and rules, so it’s even harder to make sure that health and safety issues are addressed. Many health and safety professionals try and get the message across by…

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Healing Wounded Relationships: How to Start

Healing Wounded Relationships Now Brexit and the US election are over, we need to work on healing wounded relationships. Whoever has won, the world goes on and the losers, winners, and bystanders have to find a way to move on. When there has been a great deal of anger and bitterness and when hate has…

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Finding happiness–like catching butterflies

  So much time is spent on finding happiness. Just when you think you have it right, it flits away.  Happiness seems just round the corner, just beyond the next goal, just over the next hill, just through the last obstacle. If I get that job, I’ll be happy. If I can earn enough to…

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Listening–it’s magic

Want to win clients, gain influence and find friends? Stop talking and start listening… There is so much noise out there, so many people shouting about how great they are–and what do people really want? They want to be heard, they want someone to listen. If you are listening, really listening, you are working magic.…

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Walking on Eggshells?

walking on eggshells

Some of us spend our lives worrying about what others think, some of us couldn’t care. Most of us are somewhere in the middle. We care about what the important people in our lives think about us. Sometimes, suddenly, whatever we say seems to be the wrong thing. We feel like we are walking on eggshells, frightened of breaking our…

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Revenge or Forgiveness?

Injured animals either  lash out or cower away. Humans have another choice. When we are hurt, we choose revenge or forgiveness or flight. For thousands of years, mercy and forgiveness have been seen as virtues, helping to heal and build civilised societies. Recent studies have found that forgiving others actually benefits us as much if not more…

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