"If you open your heart, love opens your mind."

"You don't use a hammer to tighten a screw."  *-- Susan Podziba 

"Very little is needed to make a happy life. It is all within yourself, in your way of thinking." 
*-- Marcus Aurelius 

---

How come, as women, we always second-guess ourselves? Are we not confident to choose a mate that has the characteristics of what we yearn for or start and operate a business that we have a passion for? Who can you trust?

For most of my teenage and adult years, I’d sit in front of my computer going over a ‘wish list’ of things to accomplish before growing old. Unfortunately, others tried to degrade my dreams, dissolve my opinions, and demean my competency. My self-esteem was not as high as it should be after achieving numerous awards in high school and business school. Despite the ongoing negativity from nay-seers, life goes on. Can you relate? There is always someone lurking in the wind saying – ‘who does she think she is?’

Trusting yourself to others is tough if you grew up around negative individuals. Did you grow up around people that never expressed their thoughts openly and honestly? Again, whom can you really trust?

Trust is a five, letter word but it has many definitions. My definition of trust is: having faith, belief and conviction of someone or something. Trust is a word that carries the weight of a dump truck.

In our personal lives, we trust our husbands, boyfriends, family and friends. We trust that others will love us and treat us with dignity and respect. We trust that they will support and appreciate our thoughts and beliefs regardless of their personal beliefs. We trust them with our hearts and inner thoughts. If that trust were broken, whom would you go to confide your thoughts to?

In our business lives, we build relationships with other entrepreneurs in order to grow our businesses and become successful. We meet people from different cultures and industries that we trust will support us in our endeavors. However, when we mistrust a business partner, we tend to build a wall around ourselves because that hurt is like loosing a good friend.

How many people do you trust with your inner thoughts? Take time out to keep those that are trustworthy in your circle by planning monthly outings, weekly phone chats, or create and deliver handwritten letters. Since it’s hard establishing trust in your life, it would be beneficial to acknowledge why you became trusting in the first place. More importantly, trust in God first and man second.

So What Is Stopping You

We're all familiar with the cycle: We want new, but resist change. We want satisfaction, but procrastinate. We want control, but defer to circumstance. So, what’s stopping *you*? A belief? “I’m an incurable procrastinator, I’ll........
 

The Ant and the Dove - Helping One Another

AN ANT went to the bank of a river to quench its thirst, and being carried away by the rush of the stream, was on the point of drowning.  A Dove sitting on a tree overhanging the water plucked a leaf and let it fall into the stream.......
 

Don't Wait For That Brick To Be Thrown

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and ...........