I attract random conversation

It's true. As weird as it may seem I appear to be a random conversation magnet. No matter where I am - a plane, the mall, just walking about – at least once a week or so a complete stranger will strike up an unprovoked conversation revealing to me their most personal information and thoughts that typically lasts about 25 minutes or longer!

Some of my past encounters include:

• At the mall – a girl pulled me aside to ask me my opinion on a laundry basket and she began talking about the décor in her house, her favourite TV shows, her family and what she was having for dinner. She only stopped at the announcement that the store was closing in 10 minutes!


• On a plane - speaking to a lady who owns a manufacturing plant in Montreal that supplies La Senza and Victoria’s Secret who later introduced me to her family and friends as "my Holly" and invited me to visit her warehouse and pick some things to take home


• In an elevator – a man told me about how his wife just woke up one morning and said she was leaving with the kids and they had been married for 6 years….and on and on...hey, they are not all positive!

Maybe I’m just a sucker for ‘trying’ to be nice. In describing myself I would say I strive to be a people pleasing perfectionist – it’s just something that makes me feel good. I always make an effort to achieve eye contact, give a pleasant greeting and smile. I also try and listen to my best ability - if someone is talking they want to be heard. I do believe being ‘nice’ can get you far in life (personal and business) through the beneficial relationships you build and networking you conduct but you also get the immediate satisfaction of making someone's day just a little bit brighter even with a simple gesture.

You often only have a few seconds to leave an impression through your words, behaviour or actions. Being 'nice' doesn't take much effort and builds a tremendous and incredible sense of trust and integrity. It's a feel good action all around. I would like to try and do this more in the new year and have it at the top of my list as something to continuously work on.

If you have not yet experienced the benefits of being nice - or tried your best at it - now is the time to put it to the test.

Tis the season for random acts of kindness. Let's all be nice.

What happened to Christmas?

My Christmas Tree is now a "Holiday Tree" and my work Christmas party was called a "Year end gathering" - What happened to Christmas?

In doing some research I came across some interesting statistics.

Over the years:

• Three out of four employers no longer put up Christmas decorations in the workplace for fear of offending political correctness policing


• The royal mail has removed any Christian references from its Christmas stamps
  
• Some places have banned children from sitting on Santa's lap ( FYI Nana’s comment to this was “poor little bastards can’t even enjoy the holidays anymore”)


• The Red Cross banned Christmas nativity decorations from its UK charity shops in case of offending customers of other faiths

I do agree that Christmas has been drawn away from it's true meaning and become more commercialized but it's up to each individual on how they choose to celebrate. Through the years we continue traditions and new ones are added but these days with PC knocking down the door traditions are becoming short lived or distorted.

There are many pressures pushing us towards a Non-denominational Christmas holiday but supports such as the American Center for Law and Justice work to protect religious and constitutional freedoms stating: "It is important to note that nothing in the US Constitution prohibits students in public schools from exercising their constitutional right to express their religious beliefs - especially during the Christmas season. And, there are constitutional ways to celebrate Christmas in the public square as well." Not to say that I don't realize we are living in a continually growing diversified community but we need to create a common understanding for holidays celebrated and respect them as well as the people that believe in them. A Christmas without hope is not Christmas at all.

Here's a great version of a politically correct Christmas card greeting if you are interested:

"Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all."

...I'll stick to the good old "Merry Christmas" thank you very much!