“Operator, please connect me to customer service.” “The first thing you should do is call the airline, even while you’re waiting in line to be rerouted,” says Brett Snyder of Cranky Concierge, an air-traveler assistance firm. “This way, you’re essentially cutting the line in front of you.” To expedite the rebooking process at the major airlines, keep these numbers in your wallet (click here for a downloadable version):

American Airlines: 800-433-7300
Continental Airlines: 800-525-0280
Delta: 800-221-1212
JetBlue Airways: 800-538-2583
Northwest Airlines: 800-225-2525
United Airlines: 800-241-6522
US Airways: 800-428-4322

“Can I get you a sandwich?” If the phone lines are jammed and you do have to speak to someone in person, “don’t forget that ticket agents have been doing this all day, and many haven’t had a break,” says Snyder, who says that offering a sandwich or coffee can help differentiate you from other demanding customers.

“What about Rule 240?” No longer an actual rule, this term refers to the airlines’ “contract of carriage.” Terms vary among airlines, but “most major airlines have to take your ticket and endorse it toward the next available flight, even if it’s a competitor’s,” says Peter Greenberg, author of Tough Times, Great Travel ($10, amazon.com). One caveat: You can’t take advantage of this if you checked bags.

source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/06/16/flight.attendant.landing/index.html?hpt=T2

Positive Identities

All of us carry around in our hearts an instinctive picture of ourselves.  The picture we have of ourselves developed while we were growing up.  Thus, it is very difficult to change in adulthood.  The effect of this instinctive picture is immense.

In our growing up years, we related to the family members about us.  Over and over again our parents and our sisters and brothers described how they saw us and what they saw inside of us.  Their perspectives and opinions rushed upon us and enveloped us.  As they related to us, they created a picture of ourselves in our hearts.  This picture can be a positive legacy or, sadly, a curse.

Several years ago I was meeting with a group of women, and they described a woman who was not present.  One of the women in the group related how she and the absent woman would go to single bars or to a party together.  The woman who was speaking was quite attractive and had done some modeling.  Inevitably, she said, the other woman, who was short and a little plump, would end up receiving all the attention from the men.  The men would ignore her more attractive friends and focus on her.  The pretty woman — who was telling the story — volunteered that this less attractive woman was a delight and very ‘other’ centered.

I heard so much about this person that I looked forward to meeting her.  Finally, I did, and she met my expectations.  It was easy to see why so many men found her attractive.  She was comfortable with herself and cheerful, but she was also very interested in the people about her.  I asked her why she was so comfortable with herself.  She said that in the family she grew up in she had a deep sense of being loved and liked.

She received a great gift from her parents – a positive picture of herself.  Many parents give to their children the great gift of a positive and honest picture of who they are.  Such a picture also goes beyond the person herself or himself to a picture of the acceptability of one’s gender.  Some mothers, for example, who despise themselves sometimes pass on to their daughters a hopelessly flawed picture of femininity.  One of the realities that one runs into again and again in counseling is either indifference or animosity towards one’s own gender.  A positive or negative reaction to one’s gender comes out of the family context.

I have worked in many churches of varying ethnic diversity.  As I did so, I could not help but notice, and was also frequently told, that in the traditional Chinese homes, boys were much preferred over girls.  What seems to be a common tragedy is that within those homes, it is the mother who is the fiercest supporter of the traditional system.  I have had Chinese women, in tears and anger, tell me how they felt deeply betrayed by their own mothers.  They taught these daughters by word and example to view themselves as inferior to their brothers.  Further, the parents made decisions that always favored the boys.  In the healthy home a positive but equal affection is extended towards the two genders.

Another instinctive pattern is introduced in the home, and that is the regard shown between the family members.  Not only does a child learn about himself or herself, the child also learns instinctively what the relationship between the genders is, what the relationship between the parents is, and what the relationship  between the parents and the children is.  For example, the greatest gift a father can give to his children is to love their mother and show that love in affectionate ways.

So we see that the self-portrait is painted in a thousand different ways.  When it is painted right, the children have an affectionate and honest picture of themselves imprinted across their hearts.  Also, by the example of the relationship between the parents, the children learn an instinctive respect for the opposite gender.  A foundation is placed for the other two elements of a healthy family: deep affection and the use of happiness skills.

When positive identities are present, then, the husband feels good about being male, he has an idea of what that is, and he enjoys the role of a husband.  The same is true of the wife.  She knows what it means to be feminine and positively regards her gender and her role.

Deep Affection

Children are interesting to watch.  When an adult turns to them in attentive affection, one can almost see the child shiver in instinctive delight.  Affection creates a powerful and positive current within family life.  A good home is a pleasurable place.

If strong bonds of affection exist, the process of confronting and disciplining teenagers is much easier.  When a child feels nurtured, standards are more easily enforced.  For example, Paul the Apostle, a teacher in the church of the first century A.D., told fathers particularly to invest their own hearts in their children and not to continually make them angry:

Fathers, stop making your children angry, but nurture them out of your own hearts in a process of child training and confrontation in harmony with the Lord.  Ephesians 6:4

Affection turns a house into a home; it is the glue holding a family together.  Researchers tell us that 80% of communication is non-verbal; the glance of the eyes and the bend of the body and the smile on the face say things that words cannot.  Non-verbal communication is created by the affection between people.  If positive identities exist and deep affection abides, the final bonds holding the family together are happiness skills.

Happiness Skills

Happiness skills are those abilities healthy and happy people use to sustain relationships.  Examples of such skills are manifold.  Trusting is a skill.  Created in a loyal, affectionate environment, trust creates friendships and sustains love.  Due to the rising tide of divorce and desertions by husbands and fathers, many individuals have lost that ability.

Evidence for this exists all around us.  We have the highest percentage of single adults in our nation’s history.  The second highest was right after the Civil War when due to the War many marriages were postponed.  In parts of Northern California, where I live, certain counties have more single adults than married individuals.  Many believe this is due to the inability of single people to entrust themselves to others.  Due to that inability, many will never marry.

Other happiness skills are conflict resolution skills. If a couple cannot work through differences, they will separate emotionally or even physically.  That is one of the fundamental skills of marriage, along with the capacity to spend time together and to hold a conversation.  Holding a conversation might seem like a simple skill, but couple after couple confuse that with problem solving.  Conversation takes place when two people share their days.  It is similar to a weather report; they describe the atmosphere within.  In their conversation, they should share the happiest moments in their day, the saddest moment in their day, a hurt they suffered throughout the day, and something they would like without demanding it.  As they do this day after day, such conversation will become the delight of their lives together.

These basic skills are the glue of relationships.  Affection and romance bring couples together, but it is a healthy identity that will serve as foundation for their life.  Their happiness skills will develop their love, and ease them through personal problems.

Here are a few articles I thought you’d like on Happy Relationships

7 Unfailing Laws of Happy Relationships

5 Secret Rules for a Happy Relationship. Shhh!

Happy Relationships Blog

Maintaining a Happy Relationship ]]> http://www.iamlovable.com/relationships/life-solution-series-on-relationships-healthy-relationships/feed/ 0 http://www.iamlovable.com/relationships/life-solutions-theme-relationships/ http://www.iamlovable.com/relationships/life-solutions-theme-relationships/#comments Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:00:21 +0000 admin http://www.iamlovable.com/?p=638 elationships exist because God the Trinity exists!  Christianity is different from Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam because of the Trinity.  Judaism and Islam are absolutely monotheistic; there is no personal differentiation in the Godhead.  In those two religions god is lonely.  He only has himself to relate to.  Christianity says that God relates within Himself as three persons who are in an everlasting, eternal “dance” of joy.  Hinduism says in one of its forms that all is god.  Reality is all one, which is pantheism, or as Francis Schaeffer would say, paneverythingism.   Ultimately, in Hinduism, personality and relationship is an illusion that will disappear.

Christianity teaches instead that relationship has preceded everything.  God is One in three persons, therefore, God is relationship.  In the first chapter of the Bible we have the Spirit of God hovering over the earth, and we have two members of the Trinity communicating over the creation of the “relaters,” Adam and Eve.  We can relate because we are made in the image and likeness of God.  Relationships, however, are at their greatest health when they are infused with the character of God.

The quality of our relationships are completely dependent upon our willingness to enter into a friendship with God.  Scripture teaches us that we can love when we accept the love that God has for us.  We love because He first loved us.  We did not initiate any relationship with God.  He did that for us.  We are merely responders.  Our great responsibility is to explore the depth of love that God has given through His Son Jesus Christ.

We are also called to relationships with others.  It is having God’s kind of love in our lives, “agape love” the Bible calls it, for others.  This love is emotional and profoundly sympathetic.

Probably the best way to describe the use of the Bible is that it is the Book of Relationships.  The Bible is not an end in itself, but it is a tool to create healthy relationships with God and others.  Evil attitudes and acts and ineffective communication is dealt with in the Bible because it is telling us what love is not.  We are not left in the dark as to what God considers normal and healthy, nor is there little doubt within the pages of the Bible as to what is unhealthy.  We have principles and models, with the greatest model being the Trinity, the eternal romance.

Reference: http://www.whatgodintended.com/content/theme-relationships.asp

3 Great Sites That Will Drive Traffic to Your Site – Social Networking Spider Web Tactics

Do you need to get your messages out on the web, so your articles and ideas can be discovered and shared by a wide number of viewers? Do you wish to get the message out about your services or products? Do you wish to enhance your presence on the internet, brand yourself and increase site visitors to your enterprise? Good! Here are three websites that can aid you in building your Social Networking Spider Maze and drive site visitors to your web site.

Most Advertising folks generate many various kinds of advertising and marketing supplies for their promotional efforts. These might include things like particular studies brochures, displays, or white papers that you simply give to your clients and prospects. There’s now a further method to make use of all the “documents” you generate and get some free, targeted traffic back to your website. You should use these websites to rapidly and simply flip almost any file-including PDF, Phrase, PowerPoint and Excel-right into a Web document and share it with the world.

By utilizing these sites you’re making your written works available to people on the Internet and mobile devices, and most importantly, fueling the conversations happening round them. All three are online communities and marketplaces to search out and share professional documents.

Here are the three sites it’s essential to try:

1. scribd.com
2. docstoc.com
3. slideshare.com

So what is so nice about these 3 websites?

1. For those of us on a tight advertising plan, they’re free to use. They are additionally easy to use which is absolutely great. There are some sites out there which can be an actual pain to use. I used to be on one social networking site the other day and it took me close to 15 minutes to figure out an easy way to publish a video.

2. The major search engines like google crawl these sites. A few of the Power Pointa displays that I posted to scribd.com where on the primary web page of Google’s search results inside a day. You may also define keywords and generally create inbound links to your website/blog, thereby growing site visitors even more.

3. You possibly can add virtually any type of file or document you want. They are going to be mechanically converted right into a PDF file and are virtually immediately obtainable for looking at and downloading by others (in the event you mark them public). That is nearly like submitting an article to an article directory aside from all of the different file sorts permitted.

Think about the potential site visitors you possibly can get. Not only will people review your presentations, but they can even get copies and share them with their associates. You’ll now have individuals serving to you promote your business. It’s possible you’ll even start to get people whom have never heard of you visiting your site or calling you!

The bottom line!! – these websites aid you create a viral advertising machine and grow your business!

And final of all…..

4. All three of these websites give you monitoring tools so you’ll be able to look at the downloads and see which of your postings are the most popular!

So all in all, these sites present an extremely efficient method for getting targeted visitors and are a very good low cost search engine optimization tactic, and they’re FREE. Now you may see why I like them a lot and wished to clue you in on them.

Have fun setting up your Social Networking Spider Web

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/online-promotion-articles/3-fantastic-sites-that-can-drive-visitors-to-your-site-social-networking-spider-web-tactics-1930112.html

About the Author

Mark Schwartz has perfected Social Networking Spider Web marketing and backlinking tactics. Social Media Spider Webs are important for businesses because they serve to increase Branding and serve as a giant lair to draw traffic to their business, websites and blogs.

To learn more of his Social Networking Spiderweb strategies like this one please visit his blog at http://markvschwartz.com.

And while you are surfing around check out his MegaRich – For Internet Entrepreneurs Blog. Magic happens for those who take action.

As I was about to shift into 2nd gear, I saw a bright light and heard an explosion, not realizing what had happened, all I thought was how I knew not to cross over the intersection even though the light was green and I didn’t see a car coming. It wasn’t until after my car stopped spinning that I realized how accurate my intuition/premonition was, and I had gone against myself.

The lesson is, if we get a gut feeling about someone, a job, or about a business deal, no matter how good it appears on paper or in person, if you have a bad gut feeling, you need to trust it and use it to make wise decisions in your life.

I was side-swiped by a person who I thought was my friend. There were subtle signs. The first one is the invisible arm that goes up when ever I was around her.  In the past when ever I listened to this signal, I was spared alot of pain.  In this particular case, I was looking at her words and actions and went with that, vs. the danger signals I was receiving in my body.

As my intuition would have it, it was a matter of time when I started receiving vicious emails with false accusations and critical judgmental comments made at me and my person.  It made no sense to me, because I had spent alot of time helping her, networking her and her Meetup group and sending prospects her way.  I didn’t dignify her emails with a response or explanation. They were just outright far from reality and downright rude and disrespectful.  She educated me on what she thought of me, and I was grateful to verify that she is someone I certainly wouldn’t want to have a joint partnership with and to call a friend.

So if you have someone who is hovering around you, labeling you, criticizing or belittling you, just know it’s not you, it’s the other person.  You stay focused on your dream and vision. See it as a distraction – most importantly, forgive that person and see it as an opportunity to move in the right direction.  You don’t need to prove your innocence (there isn’t anything to explain or apologize for, right?) just see it as God’s way of growing you up and becoming a leader,harnessing your character and integrity for success!

Headshot in SF

Yesterday I said I wasn’t really into resolutions, but in a round about way, I do actually form a few resolutions, but they are held loosely because I know from experience how often those resolutions change form and direction.

I had a lot of issues with internal boundaries last year, in fact, I think it goes farther back.  As an online business owner, it’s easy to lose track of time, forget to eat and exercise.  Yes! I do forget to eat! I’m passionate about social media and I love to read, I actually lose my appetite!

But as I am heading to age 47 – well, I’m having a hard time saying I’m going to be 47, because it feels so foreign.  I feel like I’m in my 30′s until I look into the mirror (after taking a shower) and it’s a whole nother story! Hence, time to act upon “those resolutions”

What motivates me this time is that I can visualize the benefits of working towards resolutions – because what I’m really doing here is learning a new way of living and creating better habits that will affect my husband, family, neighbors and friends.

Here’s Resolution #1

- Form healthy boundaries within myself :

a light bulb went off last summer. I overspent on money and over gave of my time, resources, and energy, then I would end up feeling depleted, unappreciated and discouraged.  Don’t get me wrong, I do not expect to get extra stars for being generous.  I am referring to my nature of being a giver, nurturer, helper.  When I meet people socially and they begin to talk to me about their lives, work, and issues, my mind and heart begin to spin into “help” mode.  I haven’t received any complaints about this trait, except my own inner voice that says I need to balance that part of me better, that I don’t need to foot the bill all the time nor do I need to put myself in situations to foot the bill (mentally, financially, physically).  As far as feeling depleted/unappreciated and discouraged – well, some people are takers without a thought of the energy behind my giving.  They  have  a stingy spirit, or a scarcity mentality. If they’re not sizing me up physically, they are doing it in other ways, my giving isn’t really ever enough, almost like to them I just “didn’t give enough”.   I realize that my boundaries will be respected when I start to respect and honor MY OWN boundaries within.  I also know that if someone has unrealistic expectations of me, I don’t need to agree to it, and saying No actually gives me the confidence in honoring myself, and reinforces those boundaries.

Lesson: There is a time to give, a time to pitch in, a time to do nothing, my value and worth is the same regardless of how much I give.

Headshot in SF

I know, I know.  We are mid-streaming into February 2010.  So why the topic of New Year’s Resolutions?  Because I’m not a big fan of them, nor do I really keep them.  In fact, I have a few resolutions that I constantly modify over time and I eventually accomplish my personal and professional goals, because personal growth requires flexibility.

I don’t start implementing my “resolutions” at the stroke of midnight.  In fact, I am not thinking much about anything in November or December because my mind is mush by the end of the year – throw in holiday activities, tight schedules, traveling, and other people’s expectations and I’ll find pieces of my hair missing and perhaps a chipped tooth from grinding my teeth at night!

No, I spend January recovering from the holiday season, and not putting much pressure on myself for anything.  I do however, think about what worked for me last year, and areas that I would like to change – I already know the answers, as I know where the “pain” is in my life.

I decided to start blogging about self care and perhaps other areas of transformation with the hope that women can relate with me and that maybe we can form a bond and share our sense of humor about our changing bodies, managing distractions (the noise in our head), relationship challenges and maybe touch on our business, instead of what it’s like being single in your 30s & 40′s and getting married for the first time in my early 40′s.

No, that is boring, I think.  Self care can be boring, too but since I’m about to turn 47 in April, I would like to track certain changes that I want to implement this year.  I may fail, get off the track and onto another track, or actually accomplish much!  I’m a realist which is why I even bother to mention the word “fail”.  I know that failing doesn’t mean I’m a loser, it means other things, like maybe I over estimated the steps it would take to meet the goal, maybe I was not honest about my motive to go there; maybe I found a better, smarter way to do it.  I don’t see myself as failing, but only changing direction.

Tomorrow, I’ll write more about my goals for the quarter (Jan-Feb-Mar) and maybe touch upon the rest of the year.

It was a Sunday morning as I approached the altar at Dance Spirit to use the tarot deck. In my mind was a question about outcomes. As I sat at the altar, question in mind, I pulled a tarot card and got an “answer” that seemed totally irrelevant to my question. Of course that did not stop me from pulling several other cards, which also did not seem relevant. Frustrated with non-answers I gave up.

The following week and for several weeks afterward, my questions were usually met with either more irrelevant answers, or answers I did not want to hear. A few times the cards gave me responses I desired but I realized I did not believe the good things the cards seemed to indicate would happen if I remained on my current path. Still each week I approached the altar, unaware how wonderful a mirror of my own inner process this experience was providing.

Finally one week as I was about to pick a tarot card, I heard my inner wisdom ask “What outcome do you want?” I realized that the tarot cards did not tell me what was going to happen because I create my own reality. The information from the cards did not matter. I have known for many years that predictive tools only show you the most likely outcome given your current path, and that they mostly show you your own inner process, but still that did not stop me from wanting to know the most likely outcome and from understanding my own thinking. The message “What outcome do you want?” changed all that. I don’t need to understand my own thinking. All I need to do is choose what I want.

If you have read books such as “The Secret,” and even if you haven’t, you have probably heard the idea that you create your reality via your thinking and beliefs. You probably also know how difficult it is to avoid falling back into limiting beliefs and thinking. No sooner do create an intention than the limiting thinking and beliefs show up, telling you what you want is not possible, etc. Or perhaps, like me, you seek confirmation that what you are doing is working. Constantly wondering, worrying, and checking will sabotage your heart felt intentions. Tarot cards were a way I checked in to see how my inner work and intentions was progressing. However, since my checking was coming from fear that my manifesting was not working, it was coming from limitation.

So what to do? How can you tell if your manifesting is working, especially when addressing areas of your life where results can take a while to show up? How can you do this in a way that supports your manifesting? This is the role of certainty. Since you create your reality, instead of checking to see how it is working, worrying that it is not, or feeling frustrated at what seems like lack of results, use the power of certainty. Each time you seek confirmation, or feel frustrated, choose to feel certainty.

What does it feel like to be certain? Begin with something you feel certain about, such as your eye or skin color. It is important to choose something you are so certain about that if someone told you otherwise, you would doubt their sanity. Feel what it feels like to be certain. Once you can do this, feel the thing you wish to manifest and transfer the feeling of certainty onto your manifestation. Then whenever you seek confirmation it is working, or when you feel doubt or fear, feel again the certainty. If you lose touch with what it feels like to be certain, go back to the original thing that you are certain about beyond any doubt and again transfer it to that which you are manifesting. Feel the calm knowing, the strength, of certainty. Allow certainty to work for you and whatever happens in your life, know for certain that all is well.

Linda White Dove

Copyright 2009 Linda White Dove

Permission is granted to share this article with others, provided you include my name as author, along with my website.

Linda White Dove, M. Ed. is an awakening facilitator working with people from around the world via the Life Mastery Attunement and Sexual Empowerment Attunement. She has also written a book and is in the process of finding an agent. To read more of Linda’s writing, learn more about the attunements and/or sign up for her e mail list: http://www.lindawhitedove.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/law-of-attraction-articles/certainty-1767433.html

A major cause of the failures of these systems is that even though they tell you to “believe”, none of them tell you how you can teach yourself to believe. Maybe you just think you believe but deep down inside you really don’t. Maybe you’ve been in negative circumstances for so long that you can’t even begin to conceive of them changing for the better. If you can’t teach yourself to truly believe then your circumstances really won’t ever change for the better no matter how many success books you read.

If you are a frequent reader of such book you have no doubt been advised time and again to “think positive” and to “guard against negative thoughts”. They tell you if a negative thought comes into your mind to immediately banish it and replace it with a positive thought. Simple, right? Not really. What they don’t take into account is that if you are reading such books you probably have had little if any success in your life or you wouldn’t be reading them in the first place.

Perhaps a river of negative thoughts has flowed through your mind for so long that it has created a “Grand Canyon” of negativity in your mind. In situations like this an occasional, weak, positive thought is not enough to overcome failure and replace it with victory. You have to learn to fill in that “Grand Canyon” with the soil of positive thoughts. BUT, unfortunately these books rarely if ever say exactly “how” to do it.

PLEASE READ: How to use “Belief” for Success” Part 2

For more information on Success Tips,Overcoming Failure, Positive Thinking, and receive a FREE “Science of Getting Rich” E-Book
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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/law-of-attraction-articles/how-to-use-belief-for-success-part-1-1763274.html

Your thoughts determine your emotions-good or bad. Your emotions determine your belief or disbelief. Your belief or disbelief determines your faith. Your faith determines your persistence. And ALL of these things determine your eventual success-or failure.

So, HOW do you learn to believe and change your negative, failure, mindset into a positive, powerful and successful one? You have to do it ONE thought at a time. And you have to keep doing it all day long, every day.

Start out with positive affirmations. Write down what you want and read it aloud as many times daily as possible. When you are reading try to strongly visualize what you want. Think how happy you will feel when that desire becomes a reality for you. Really immerse yourself in that happiness and enthusiasm. Train your mind to associate those emotions with your goal. Do this until your subconscious accepts this as reality. Then you can’t help but to believe!

But don’t stop there. Positive affirmations may not be enough to induce you to believe. Another great way to develop the power to believe is to read inspirational books. They can be about success, love, religion, hopes, dreams…it really doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is that you choose a book that is really positive-a book that really gets you fired up. A book that says over and over, “you can do it!”, you can win!”, “don’t give up, you’re so close!”. A book that just showers you in positive thoughts of support and success.

Read these books over and over for best results and when you feel that happiness, enthusiasm and excitement about your goals and desires…THEN is the perfect time to say your affirmations. When you do this, I think you will find that gradually you WILL believe and your mind will be changed from completely negative to completely positive. And …when you really, truly believe then you really CAN accomplish anything you desire.

For a FREE “Science of Getting Rich” E-Book and more info on Success Tips and Positive Thinking
CLICK HERE

For a FREE 5-Part E-Course on developing your mind and brain power by using Quantum Mind Power principles
CLICK HERE

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/law-of-attraction-articles/how-to-use-belief-for-success-part-2-1763302.html