It's perfectly natural for people to come in and out of our lives. Everyone you come into contact with makes an appearance on the stage of your life; depending on the purpose of the visit, it may be very brief like the barber, Mrs. Jordan, the bully or it may be a lifelong relationship (if you're interested, grab yourself a cup of coffee, a glass of wine or whatever it is you drink for enjoyment and go see my stories about the barber, Mrs. Jordan and the bully).

Whether they are there briefly or for several years, I've learned a thing or two along the way:

1. Listen with your eyes (stay focused on the person talking to you - don't let them wander - if you have A.D.D., force yourself to stay focused and don't interrupt!)

2. Help them get what they want without any expectation of return (Zig Ziglar says if you help just enough people get what they want, you will get what you want - but you have to help them FIRST).

3. Give them sincere recognition and thanks by sending unexpected thank you notes, taking them out for dinner or stopping by their place of business/home and saying "hello."

4. Mean what you say - let your spoken words be worth its weight in gold. If you say you will do something, then do it. Action speaks louder than words - demonstrate integrity. People should understand that they don't need a contract to do business with you...a firm handshake should suffice (unfortunately, this isn't much of an option in today's litigious society. But you can certainly try and build your reputation on that).

5. Recognize that each character in the play of your life is there to teach or show you something. You could be shown the light at the end of the tunnel or courage you never knew you had. You could be given the opportunity to go in a different direction with your life that you hadn't thought of before. You get the idea....

Food for thought: Have you helped anyone this week? Recognized them for their talents? Did what you said you would do? Do you see each new person in your life as someone who has a potentially life changing message for you?