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Being Nice

“Its all about people. Its about networking and being nice to people and not burning any bridges.” Mike Davidson

Recently I had an intellectual altercation with a client in one of my public stress management lectures.

Said client came in an hour late – which riled my ever sensitive ego, and proceeded to tell me that we must always be nice to people, to take the time to understand why they are irritable or having a bad day. I countered this by saying that when under pressure, we are not inclined to be nice, nor are we obliged to be nice. Said client then felt insulted and stormed out.

End of altercation, end of lecture, I though that it was just one of those days and that I could not please every one all the time. Then my subconscious started to process the incident. Again and again I was troubled by it. Finally I got over myself and looked more deeply into what had transpired and I found a wonderful gem of wisdom – being nice to others.

Looking back at my life I realised that when ever I had been nice to people, wonderful things happened, I got free chips and a coke at a quick shop when I was tired and stresses, a free nights stay was arranged for my by an airline when flights were delayed, minor repairs were done on my car for free, a flight was held back on the apron when I was late, a ships captain took an extra day to wait for my container to clear traffic congestion and load on his ship. Looking at my life so far, I realised that about 70% of all the spontaneous good things that have happened in my life have been a direct result of me being nice to people.

Metaphysically we could say that it is good “karma”, or that by being nice we raised our vibrational frequency to attract nice back to us. Practically we could say that because we are human social beings, being nice to people makes us feel good about our selves, changes our world view and in turn, in some way ingratiates us to others. In simple terms, if a mechanic stops to help you change a tire on a dark night and gives you a business card, would you not be more likely to call him or her for advice or take your car to them for your next service?

go out and be nice – its free, fun and the results may just surprise you.

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