I delivered another public talk last week and it felt great to be amongst a group of motivated people making time in their busy lives for personal development. The theme was how to improve all your relationships and make them richer and more fulfilling.

It always amazes me how such evenings take their own shape despite detailed planning – it is almost as if destiny plays a part! As usual I feel that I was the one who learnt more from the evening.

More on my talk later as it was just another highlight of a significant week.

Firstly it was my birthday last Thursday and it felt great to be so young once again and celebrate the day with my family. It was a day of pampering and gluttony (relatively speaking for me!) As I have said before, everyday can be your birthday if you choose to live your life that way!

Then on Sunday it was mother’s day here in the UK and again I was overwhelmed with the closeness and love of my family.

Of course once again we should celebrate our mothers and other loved ones every day. Why wait till just that one day of the year?!

Finally, I made the firm decision to “walk” in the London marathon rather than trying to run it. A knee injury in February curtailed my running for 5 weeks so it was a question of pulling out and deferring till next year or going for it on 26th April. I will be writing more about this another time soon, but for now, note that I am running for WellChild and you can sponsor me via my JustGiving page

WellChild is a national charity for sick children and provides practical help for children and their families as they deal with serious illness and complex conditions.

So back to my talk last week on relationships. In just 2 hours the group managed to work their way through 9 key exercises and I shall be presenting these exercises in their full entirety in a future article.

I outlined my 3 Keys to GREAT relationships:-

1. Contribution
2. Connection
3. Completion

A key point that we discussed was how the ONLY thing you can ever give anyone else is your love and ACCEPTANCE.

It is incredible that human beings still believe that they can make someone else love them!

To end my talk, I summarised the key relationship learnings as below as a form of positive affirmations:-

1. I accept people totally and completely as they are and I allow others to be as they are. I know that they are perfect teachers for my journey of acceptance and understanding.

2. I look for opportunities to connect with, contribute and make a difference to another person at least once a day. This is what leads to true connection and fulfilment.

3. I am deeply grateful for all the people in my life who make my life so easy and rich. I show my appreciation at every possible opportunity.

4. I take nothing personally and accept that everyone is on their own journey of growth and learning. I forgive and let of any past grievances.

5. I look for the love and goodness in others for love is all that matters.

6. I bring more joy, happiness and love in my life and other people’s lives.

7. I will practice appreciation & gratitude daily and I promise to learn and improve my gratitude dance!!!

So there you are – go forth and apply these 7 keys in all your relationships and see how your life and your world is transformed.