A good customer in a restaurant

A good customer expects good service. However, to be a good customer in a restaurant, or a good guest, one must be familiar with the ambiance and the required attire, and dress properly. To go out for dinner is supposedly a ceremony. It is to enjoy the company of a partner, the ambiance, the food, and the service.

• A good guest would not stop his conversation to pay attention to the waiter. A good guest knows what he wants. He clearly states to the server his needs, and understands that the server has other tables to take care of, simultaneously.   
• A good guest place his order and forgets about the server. A good guest doesn't have the need to worry about anything, other than enjoy his time.  
• A good guest doesn't request a selected server in a restaurant.
• A good guest expects everyone to serve the same way, with the same courtesy.
• A good guest returns to the same restaurant whenever possible.
• A good guest is gold.

In fine restaurants, servers would approach the table immediately after the guests are seated, and have a feel about the guest by informing them that bread and butter is on its way, and that he is interested to know if the table is going to drink still water, tap, or sparkling water with their dinner, and right after, the server asks if they would like to order a cocktail now, or if they prefer to look the wine list, or menu before deciding.  If a good guest is interrupted, they will not become a good customer. So, to be a good guest it is necessary to inform your server about the service you received. Not only when it was a positive experience, but all times. It is part of paying for a service. It is a "customer satisfaction information" done at that time verbally. 

In summary, to be a good guest in a restaurant one needs to dress up to have a great experience, where you would enjoy your time, without interruptions, and be served adequately, and not be forgotten. When tipping, take in consideration your experience, and be generous accordingly.

Milton 

Self Help Books to conquer fear

Whenever we go through different experiences in life, fear is eminent. Fear is a positive thing. Fear is a connection with God. As humans, we tend to omit the truth about many things to many different people we relate. We like secrets, and we like to make things up as we go on. This is the verb: to lie. And it means not tell the truth. People lie because of fear. Whatever the reason is, it is connected with fear. When we lose fear, we become an angel. The consequence of fear is evolution. So, fear is a part of a human being, and for fear, we create love, which is the opposite of fear. The point here is: Human beings are not perfect.

• Fear is positive because it induces us to conquer and move on in the line of knowledge.
• Fear is a connection with God because only when we fear, we value something that is unknown to us.
• To error is part of being a human - To lie is part of an error.
• No fear = angel. Superior than human beings, and more connected with God. Angels are messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles.
• Only "by fear" man can conquer what is unknown. Only after conquering fear men evolve.
• When we are fearful, we learn to adapt to something unknown, and we call our addiction love.
• Love is the opposite of fear because when we feel the opportunity to evolve, we fall in love with whomever (people, things, ideas,) that make us evolve, and fear is not present. As we grow spiritually, fear adjusts itself, and life is bearable.  

Yours Truly,

Milton Laene Araujo

Mounts Botanical Garden

Mounts Botanical Garden, Palm Beach County's oldest and largest public garden. Mounts’ gardens and programs provide the best horticultural and botanical information available related to South Florida's unique plants and environment. Mounts displays tropical and subtropical plants from around the world, including plants native to Florida, exotic trees, tropical fruit, herbs, citrus, palms and more.

I took this picture after I had watered what you are seeing in this picture.

Thanks

Milton Laene Araujo
Visit http://www.mounts.org/

Posted by Milton Laene Araujo

What do we know about God?

A Connection with God!

I have had many conversations with Atheists! Some conversations ended in a small war of words, where I wanted to convey the existence of God, but was bombarded with questions about my faith. After many exchange of e-mails I was not up to par to respond to them. I made it clear that I wanted to learn about their way of life with no strings attached.

I had good reasons to approach an atheist. I was going through hard times, and I questioned the existence of a higher power. I was moved by their intelligence. To be honest with you, an atheist usually is very intelligent. They are able to debate the non existence of God like any scholar in bible studies. In other words, they study as much, if not more, than any priest, pastor, rabbi or any graduate in theology, however, with a contrary conclusion.

I admire any atheist. I admire anyone who believes that God doesn’t exist and that God was created to have all people concentrate in one single God, instead of all gods and goddess that have taken a large place in the life of our ancestors. I understand that an atheist live in search of a proof – a concrete proof that God exists. They can not understand miracles, and they are skeptical about anyone who claims to have been spared his or her life by a superior force, or a being, or an entity – which of, we call God.

Maybe they are right. I can not say with certainty that they are all wrong, as they can not ever assure that we, believers are right. It is a lost cause to try to understand their way of thinking, for it is extremely logical and filled with scientific proof. I truly believe in God, and I gained tolerance for all religions.

They are very expert about the bible, and they concentrate on its interpretation word by word, and find many discrepancies, that we overlook. We blindly accept the existence of God because we feel Him in our lives every day.

I've cheated death at least six times in my life, and I proclaim that God helped me to stay alive. I did not conquer cancer or anything in that sense, but I did not die in a fatal accident, where there was no chance for my survival – I walked away with not a scratch. I survived.

These experiences brought me closer to God.

It is very sad when human beings discard God as their protector. Yet, the same human beings, when in trouble say “Oh My God! This led me to believe that they have God because GOD is all that is, but they decline its existence as a cliché.For me, God is within us. And we can not fell God outwards. If we have the need to feel God outward, such as, moving a mountain or showing Its presence, we can not feel God within, and when we feel God within, the outward presence is not necessary. Imagine if God showed Himself and started moving things here and there. Everyone would say that it is Satan’s doings.

To obtain a connection with God, one needs to appreciate nature. Appreciate every living creature. It is necessary to respect every fellow. It is necessary to understand that we are all different, but everything that we do, is God experiencing Himself through us.
Going a little further, imagine God being alone, without anything else. God is all that is, however, He can not see its magnificence because God it everything. So, God created all living things to experience Himself. God placed living things in a different spectrum, and from that point he could then experience Himself.

Every one of us is God experiencing His magnificence. We live different lives, yet, when we place a living creature as a point B, God can then see what he truly is, with all changes and experiences every living creature does. When you commit a crime, God is experiencing himself with you. In this relative world that we live upon, there is no good without bad. We can only have one thing when the other exists. Yes, we need criminals and law maker followers. We need the good to experience the bad and be able to discern its difference. We live in a relative world, where one thing is related to another in an opposite way. We can only learn what is good by experiencing what is bad and comparing them. So God gave us the “arbitral”. We can do whatever we desire, and God will experience each one of us.



In the end, every soul will be united with God and make Him even more magnificent that what he truly is. God will see the good in each one of us, and accept our behavior as a necessity to create better way of living. It doesn’t mean that a human being who is addicted to sex have the right to commit a crime. It means that it is possible, and available, but there is the so called Man’s law. We need to abide by this law, for it was also created by God. Certain things are right and make sense as other things simply do not make sense. A good Judge will decide on this matter, and a Judge is also a Godly creation.

Without laws, we would be in a chaos.

Now, for those more intelligent beings, who believe that a different force may control our earth – I applaud them. Maybe it is true. We do not know God’s plan, and maybe this earth will be unbearable to live upon. Maybe we will have 2 degrees increase on our earth temperature every season, and have more water evaporating from the oceans and creating rain where never existed, and blizzards where it was not common. Maybe the Martians live underground. Maybe when we visited the moon we were told not to come back again. Maybe we receive energy and knowledge of other beings. Who honestly cares? This is a matter designed for our government to take care of. This information can be shared, but the time needs to be right.

It is a waste of time try to conspire against the course of life. It is a waste of time to be fanatic about the existence of UFO’s when we truly know that it can be possible and it will not change our life span of 100 years or less.

A connection with God means to live your life day by day and try to help others to endure this short span. A connection with God truly means that we can not persuade others to think as we think. We are not perfect, and only by acceptance we can have a productive life.

All the rest will come as it may.

Yours Truly,

Milton

Milton@ibt-efdt.com

Irreconciliable differences

Irreconcilable differences


I have never heard anything as vulgar as this term: Irreconcilable differences, which is used in all divorce papers.
For me it is nothing more than lack of acceptance.
How can you say that you love another human being when you are not capable of accepting him or her the way they are?
A man has 1000 pieces, and every piece is a person! A person he met, a person he liked, a person he did not like, and so forth and so on. When two people decide to commit, they need to be open for changes.

Luca got married to Sandra, and they had 3 children. Later Luca got involved with drugs and made life a living hell for his family. Sandra left Luca. She got custody of her children. Luca pays alimony. Both are unhappy. Both have jumped from one marriage to another, and both are divorced again, and again.
The children are a mess. They think they are the reason for the divorce, which most of the cases, it is true. Although, most parents swear that their children have nothing to do with their separation, unfortunately, it is not the truth. Sandra is in search of the right man, but now, with 3 kids, she feels impotent. Luca has been in and out of jail. Money gets tight. Sandra takes Luca to court for late alimony. A battle has begun and will last forever. No one will be happy – EVER.

No one is perfect! Can you get it!???

Everyone lies about something! Everyone commits errors, everyone has a luggage filled with 1000 pieces.
Only when we decide to grow spiritually with another human being, all pieces can be unfolded, and all imperfection turns into a learning process.

Life is a learning process, and we can not leave in the middle of the class. We must to be there, and try to understand why things are they way they are.
Yes, people are different, and I am not saying that you have to take it all alone. But with love and understanding you can turn things around.
Luca for example, got into drugs, cheated and lied to Sandra about everything. Luca spent all the money he had earned, and needed more to feed his habit, or addiction. Sandra got fed up!

Wait a minute!

When did it happen? Why did it happen? Who was involved?
Love doesn't mean to go away! Love mans to look for a solution. Love means to stay there and accept what is going on. It could be you! How would you want things to be if you were Luca?

When (referring here to a woman) we make children with a man, we have a link that can not be separated. It doesn't matter how hard it is, it can be mended. Even if you are hurt in the process, look for help elsewhere. Go back to your family and open the book. Tell the truth to your children. Tell the facts. Tell what you saw and what you have heard, and also tell your children that you are lost.

Do not put them aside. Do not use the idea of protecting them. It will backfire. They will grow up, and learn the truth.

So, before you decide about irreconcilable differences take a look at yourself and find what is better for your kids. Do not use your own judgment. Share with them and discover what is better for that moment, but remember that you are not alone to decide it. Use family members, and try to be understanding that people are not perfect.

There are three types of people: Low class people talk about people. Median class people talk about things, and High class people talk about ideas. These are the types, and they infer in our capacity to give and receive love. The full array of human emotions are rarely involved when people talk about people.

If you truly do not care, go ahead and get it over with! You have not loved anyone. You thought you loved a thing, or an idea of a person, but in reality, you were in love with your life style, and the idea of being in love. You are a median type of people, and things are not only things.

All aspects of the past must remain in the past, and a learning process of acceptance must take place. Accept your mistakes, as one accepts mishaps, and learn from them. Learn to love what is imperfect. Open the line of communication now. A divorce is a battle where the only winner are the lawyers.

This is how it ends.



Milton

How people truly are?

The above picture was taken when I went to visit my friends in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brasil.   Standing from left to right you see me, Milton, and Ivana. Seated we see Hans and Axel.
This picture depitcs what I want to talk about - Family, individual, adolescents - People in general.

How people truly are?


To begin, let's divide people in three level categories. The first is: People that talk about people. These, I call low type of people. The second is: People that talk about things. These I call median type of people, and the third is people that talk about ideas. These I call high type of people. This combination forms a person, and they coexist together, and sometimes grow together into different levels, but unfortunately, other times they stagnate into one category forever.

We can call whatever name we want to any group of people, but in reality, what we are truly doing is comparing ourselves to them.



Low type of people engages in conversations about other people's business. They don't like to read. They follow the same values that were passed on to them. They are stubborn by nature. They refuse to learn other cultures, and have an opinion for all matters of life. They refuse to learn about science, and have no idea about archeology, fossils, astronomy, etc. They are extremely ethnocentric, and they believe that their way of life is the correct one.

Among the low type of people, unfortunately, we find nothing, but problems. The essence of life is around gossips, comparisons, hate and lack of self observance. These people are self-centered, and live their lives incomplete. They follow what other people tell them. They are all the time followers. They will never command! They can produce. They can perform any duty that doesn’t require thinking. They can work in a line of production for any factory, and they will succeed this way. They can only do sub-jobs. The good news is that they can change, if they truly want it.

Median type of people engages in conversations about things that are happening. They care about facts, and they also learn to compare facts, to later draw their conclusion based on their past information. These people are more likely to succeed, for they enjoy learning about different things, and they are attracted to the same kind of people. They understand different cultures, and they respect other beliefs. They talk about people, when it is not prejudicial to anyone. They have a great balance about who they are. They can command. They would not like any job that is not challenging. They would not follow any order. They would search for the truth at all times. The better news is that they can change to a higher level.


High type of people engages in conversations about ideas that involve people and things. They are the thinkers, who advocate for the benefit of the community as a whole. They can be called geeks, and most of the time they are lonesome. They are genius, and they can not relate with the majority of the population. They feel attracted to median people because they have a desire to share what they learned. They like to preserve the fauna and the flora of this earth. They aim to be in a higher level to share what they have learned.



These levels can only be combined through acceptance of who we are. Where we want to be and how can we get there.


Shifting this topic a little, let’s analyze a dog. Dog owners think that when their dog licks them, it is because he (it) is showing love and affection, but the reality is that the dog wants to smell everything that is out there. They want to smell who comes to the door. The licking process is his way of absorbing what is new. They lick to show that they either remember that smell or they are happy to meet a different smell.



Adolescents, on the other hand, are in search of a place to be. They inherited their parents category (level, in this case), and they are in search of what could make them fit in. Parents that are low type and median type have difficulty accepting their adolescent’s way of thinking, acting and behaving. The adolescent, however, get in conflict and can change his level to either higher or lower. Parents have the base for all influences, but the adolescent who inherited a low type of people family, will have to work extra hard to fit in. Some turn bad. Unfortunately, it was their parents fault – really!



A couple, however, can work together to fix all problems. They must grow and understand life changes. They must adapt to new way of thinking and more importantly, they must listen to their adolescent. When a couple has different backgrounds, but both are willing to learn more about things and ideas, they resolve matters as life goes on. But when a couple is set on their ways, a divorce is eminent. Low and median type of people get divorced. High type of people sticks together.



Hugs,

Milton