I sat reading my emails, and I realized some fundamental truths that I doubt many of us think about.  When we become an adult, for most of us, that means we take control of our destiny; we shape who we are going to be by the decisions we make.  For good or bad, they are our decisions, and we need to take responsibility for their outcome.  We can not always control what happens around us or to us. That is not always possible to do. What we do have control over is how we respond to it, how we react to it, and how we treat others in the process. So what I am saying is, we have complete control over how we respond to a situation and how we will use it to help make our future decisions.  That doesn’t mean we can always control how people respond to us or situations we sometimes find ourselves involved in.  Remember that your ultimate destiny is calculated on all the decisions you make every moment of every day.  Napoleon Hill was credited to have said, “Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.”  That is a true statement; think about what you want to say, how it will land on the ears of the people you are speaking to.  How you frame it to communicate what precisely you wanted to say to that person.  Our lives on this planet are short; we should try and be as helpful and kind as possible to one another.  As we approach the holidays next week, remember your family, friends, co-workers, remember they are people too, with emotions, feelings, thoughts, dreams, treat them like the human beings they are, give them some hope that life will be better.  As humans, we just want to believe that there are good people who will be there when they need them.  Be an example people will want to aspire to, give hope and support when you can, and don’t be intentionally cruel to another human being.  Happy Holidays everyone.