Being Friendly

Like my father, I am by nature a friendly person. I love to have friends and befriend people easily.

When my kids were growing up, I wanted them to inherit this quality. To try and set a good example, I had a standing challenge with them.

They can point to any stranger. I will approach the person and start a conversation with him or her – regardless of the place or time.

My youngest daughter did test me out when she was much younger.

I had fear in my mind while taking up the challenge. Still, I had to do it to prove a point.

As they say, there are no strangers in this world, only friends we have not met.

Friends and being friendly can be important assets in life.

Let me prove the point by sharing with you an experience.

Every morning, when I went to work, I would pass by a coffee shop.

There would usually be an old and simple looking man sitting all by himself and having a cup of coffee.

When I had the time, I would talk to him and try to inspire him.

One day, he turned to me and said, “Young man, would you like to sell a property for me?”

 I was thinking to myself, “I hope you don’t think that I am your friend just because I want any business from you.”

In any case, I thought he might just want me to sell his HDB flat.

I told him in a professional and courteous way, “I will ask one of my colleagues to help you.”

His reply was quite surprising but not as surprising as what I discovered subsequently.

He said, “I like you to sell my newly developed semi-detached house.”

I never thought this conversation might end up with a big ticket sale. At that point in time, such a property would be easily worth upward of $1.8 million.

This simple-looking and elderly man – whom I later discovered was a rich man and younger than me – must have tried to interpret my puzzled look.

He said the next thing that almost made me fell off my chair.

“Why? Is one house too little for you? I have 40 to 50 of such houses.”

To cut a long story short, this man went on to become one of my best clients. He helped my company to earn quite a substantial amount of money.

I learned in a powerful way the wisdom of Jesse Jackson’s words, “Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.”

My friendliness – which is just for friendliness sake and has no commercial intention – strucked a gold mine.

Our Creator gave me this and many other experiences. They inspire me to develop the discipline of friendliness.

When I meet somebody, I will consciously tell myself, “I will be nicer than my normal self.”

Friendliness is the only pen that can write on the fleshly tablets of a person’s heart. It is those writings that help people to remember me.

Like a boomerang, friendliness will somehow be returned back to me.

Friends and friendliness have broken down a lot of barriers to success. They have taken me further in life than many of the certificates I have earned from my formal education.

Go4It!

I hope this message will find a place in your heart.

By the way, I have also recorded other reflections.

Please go to ‘Notes’ found below my profile picture.

Visit my Inspiration blog at http://liewinspiration.wordpress.com

Visit my Transformation blog at http://hsrpatrickliew.wordpress.com

Please read them and continue to teach me.

Life is FUNtastic!

 

Question: How can we be friendly to everyone?