Selection One

A SHORT COURSE 

IN HUMAN RELATIONS

The six most important words:

I admit I made a mistake.

The five most important words:

You did a good job.

The four most important words:

What is your opinion?

The three most important words:

If you please.

The two most important words:

Thank you.

The one most important word:

We.

The least important word:

I.

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EVERYBODY NEEDS SOMEONE

People need people and friends need friends

And we all need love for a full life depends

Not on vast riches or great acclaim,

Not on success or on worldly fame.

But just in knowing that someone cares

And holds us close in their thoughts and prayers.

For only the knowledge that we're understood

Makes everyday living feel wonderfully good,

And we rob ourselves of life's greatest need

When we "lock up our hearts" and fail to heed

The outstretched hand reaching to find

A kindred spirit whose heart and mind

Are lonely and longing to somehow share

Our joys and sorrows and to make us aware

That life's completeness and richness depends

On the things we share

With our loved ones and friends.

-- Helen Steiner Rice

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CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

If a child lives with criticism,

He learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,

He learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule,

He learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame,

He learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance,

He learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement,

He learns confidence.

If a child lives with praise,

He learns to appreciate.

If a child lives with fairness,

He learns justice.

If a child lives with security,

He learns to have faith.

If a child lives with approval,

He learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,

He learns to find love in the world.

H&L Enterprises

7440 Bronson Road

San Diego, California 92111

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HEART GIFTS

It's not the things that can be bought

that are life's richest treasure,

It's just the little "heart gifts"

that money cannot measure.

A cheerful smile, a friendly word,

a sympathetic nod

Are priceless little treasures

from the storehouse of our God.

They are the things that can't be bought

with silver or with gold,

For thoughtfulness and kindness

and love are never sold.

They are the priceless things in life

for which we cannot pay

And the giver finds rich recompense

in giving them away.

-- Helen Steiner Rice

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The Test

The test of a man is the fight that he makes

The grit that he daily shows

The way he stands on his feet and takes

Fate's numerous bumps and blows.

A coward can smile when there is naught to fear

When nothing his progress bars,

But it takes a man to stand up and cheer

While some other fellow stars.

It's the knocks that you take and the jolts you get

The shock that your courage stands

The hour of sorrow and vain regret

The prize that escaped your hands.

To test your mettle and prove your worth

It isn't the blows that you deal

But the blows you take on this good old earth

That show if your stuff is real.

-- Anonymous --

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I lost a cross word yesterday,

Unguarded, from my tongue;

It slipped into the atmosphere 

Then trouble had begun.

A dozen others followed it;

They filled the room with grief.

No matter then what word was said,

It could not bring relief.

If only I had stopped that word

Before it crossed my lips,

My day had been a happy one -

And sweet with fellowships.

I think I wasted yesterday,

Hurt self as well as friend,

Today I want to watch my words,

And let no one offend.

Gertrude McDaniel, From the Allen Penfield Beach Library, Basin Harbor, Vermont, 1972

THE SIN OF OMISSION

It isn't the thing you do; It's the thing you leave undone.

Which gives you a bit of heartache at the setting of the sun.

The tender word forgotten, The letter you did not write,

The flower you might have sent, Are your haunting ghosts at night.

The stone you might have lifted Out of a brother's way,

The bit of heartsome counsel you were hurried too much to say.  

The loving touch of the hand, the gentle and winsome tone,

That you had no time or thought for with troubles of your own.

The little acts of kindness, so easily out of mind;

Those chances to be helpful which everyone may find--

No, it's not the thing you do, it's the thing you leave undone,

Which gives you the bit of heartache at the setting of the sun.

-- Margaret E. Sangster

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THE CREED FOR OPTIMISTS

1.  Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

2.  Promise yourself to talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

3.  Promise yourself to make all your friends feel that there is something in them.

4.  Promise yourself to look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

5.  Promise yourself to think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best.

6.  Promise yourself to be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. 

7.  Promise yourself to forget the mistakes of the past and to press on to the greater achievements of the future.

8.  Promise yourself to wear a friendly countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.

9.  Promise yourself to spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others.

10.  Promise yourself to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.  

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SERENITY PRAYER

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

courage to change the things I can

and the wisdom to know the difference.