Do you want to have happy relationships? Then you’ll have to stop trying to fix people and start appreciating them. Jesus said, “Love your neighbor.” He didn’t say, “Fix your neighbor.” Two reasons why you need to stop fixing people. First, you can’t. And second, I’ve realized that people are like old houses. If one thing gets fixed, another thing gets broken. Jean came up to me one day and said, “Bo, can I share something with you? My story might help the women you talk to.” Jean said that her husband is addicted to watching basketball. She told me that it drove her insane. “Bo, there was a t ..read more

Permanently poor people blame their poverty on everything else but themselves. And it’s so easy to do that. Because a billion different things affect our money. If you wanted to, you could blame your poverty on suicide bombers from Afghanistan, the thinning of the ozone layer, or the fact that the King of Saudi Arabia fought with his wife the day before an OPEC meeting—which skewed up the oil prices. You could blame your poverty on your alcoholic father, your overprotective grandmother, or the childhood trauma of listening to Frank Sinatra music over and over again because it was your mother’s ..read more

The speed of life can bring us to the point of burnout. We can feel so exhausted that we have nothing more to give in our work, in our relationships, and in our family. And because we’re burning out, we become prone to discouragement and frustration. We lose our temper. Worse, we give in to temptations of lust, greed, and selfishness—and our relationships are damaged. My dear friend, there is a way to prevent burnout. You have to refill yourself. Why? Because you cannot give what you do not have. Here are five things you can do to prevent burnout. Number one: Have a strong prayer life. In Mark ..read more

It’s a fact. Many times—at work and in relationships—you will be rejected. You’ll go through all sorts of crazy things— discouragement, worry, depression, anxiety, and pain. You will lose your joy in life. Now, here’s my big question: how do you deal with rejection? I know some people who accept rejection and then make it their identity. But hey, there’s a better way. Here’s how: Love that person who rejected you but reject the rejection. I’ll give you three steps to reject the rejection. 1. Clarify your ‘who.’ Many women write to me to say that their boyfriends dumped them. But even before th ..read more

I’ve talked to thousands of couples having problems. Looking back on all of them, I’ve identified the most common cause of marital troubles. It’s not adultery. It’s not alcoholism. It’s not addictions. It’s not the in-laws. It’s not money. (This comes close!) All of the above are real problems. But they’re not the top causes of marital strife. What is the most common reason for marriage problems? Here it is: Husbands and wives aren’t kind to each other. I’m not kidding. Plain, simple, decent, regular kindness will solve a lot of marital problems. The Bible says, “Better to dwell in a corner of ..read more

Question: Why do people fail to reach their goals? Answer: Because they’ve not yet discovered their emotional why. Let me explain what I mean. One day, I was talking to Ricky, a smoker. He said, “I’ve tried to quit smoking, but it doesn’t work. I’ve tried so many times, and I’ve failed again and again. I don’t think I can quit smoking.” So I told him, “Do you have a kid?” “Yes. I do. I have a three-year-old girl,” Ricky said. “What’s her name?” “Suzie.” I told him, “Imagine this vividly in your mind. What if someone pointed a .45 caliber pistol on the forehead of Suzie, and tells you, ‘Unless ..read more

I’m not much of a baker. The last time I baked a cake, the house almost burned down. And no, I won’t tell you the story because it’s so embarrassing. I swore to myself I’ll never bake another cake in my entire life. But even if I’m not a great baker, I do know one very important thing: You can’t bake a cake without ingredients. Ingredients such as flour, milk, butter, eggs, and sugar. Friends, if the cake is your emotions, the ingredients include your imagination. Here’s my point: The quality of your ingredients determines the quality of your cake. In the same way, the quality of your emotions ..read more

Have you experienced being desperate before? Desperate for a solution? Desperate for money? Desperate for food? Desperate for love? Believe me, no one wants to be desperate. We’d rather have comfort, convenience, abundance, overflow, and prosperity anytime. But desperation is something we avoid. First of All, Be Desperate for Wisdom Sally and Esther are friends who are both single. They complain how difficult it is to look for good single men. One day, they notice a new guy in the neighborhood. They wonder if he’s single. Sally says to Esther, “Talk to him and find out.” Esther says, “I’m shy ..read more

One day, a tourist saw a fisherman busy fishing. The fisherman was very skilled as he caught a lot of fish. But the tourist noticed that the fisherman had this strange behavior. If he caught a big fish, he threw it back to the lake. But if he caught a small fish, he’d put it in his container. After seeing the fisherman do this strange behavior many times, he had to ask. He went up to the fisherman and asked, “Sir, I couldn’t help but notice something strange about what you do. Normally, we keep the big fish and throw away the small fish. But you do the opposite. You throw the big fish and keep ..read more

Our bodies merely manifest our beliefs. And there’s our problem: We expect to grow old and decay. For us, growing old means getting ready to die. Why? Because that’s what we see around us: People in their sixties and seventies who are so sickly, they’re like walking drugstores. We see them hobbling on their canes, bent over and crooked, complaining of aches and pains every day. It’s the expectation of society. It’s called the hypnosis of social conditioning. But not everyone has this expectation. In fact, scientists have gone to the ten places in the world with the most centenarians. They aske ..read more