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This weeks tip is something I heard on the radio last week and have since taken to using myself.
The world is becoming a pretty thankless place - people are so self-obsessed that common decency and down-to- earth good manners are in grave danger of extinction.
A few of us still like to uphold the standards that our parents taught us, though. They cost nothing but can brighten the day of the people around you.
Even more important, perhaps, is that just by acting in a polite manner, you fill yourself up with an enormous amount of positive energy.
The guy on the radio phoned in to say that he is a London taxi driver who is sick to death of the rudeness and arrogance of other drivers. His solution was not to become like them, but to adopt a whole new tactic.
Every morning he creates an imaginary bag in the cab beside him. He sees it there in his mind's eye, empty, just waiting to be filled.
But there is only one thing that can fit inside this imaginary bag - thank yous.
As he drives around London, he makes a point of giving way to other cars, waiting for pedestrians, and generally doing everything he can to solicit a 'thank- you' from everyone he comes into contact with (but without ACTUALLY asking directly for one).
As his day wears on he keeps a mental tally of how many thank-yous that he has got so that the next day he has a new target to beat.
What a fantastic idea! I do the same thing myself now and it is amazing how many you can get - and how good they make you feel!
Imagine if we all went around trying to behave in a manner that would make a stranger say thank you to us.
What a different society we would start to see emerging.
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