Not sure of yourself?

You are breeding failure!

     Data fusion company Jigsaw says, “Sales success depends on sales rep productivity, management effectiveness, and the ability to collaborate…with customers, partners and colleagues.”  

     What’s the connection with self-doubt? Sales rep productivity, management effectiveness, and the ability to collaborate ALL depend on the ability to eliminate self-doubt. Consider the following which you’ve certainly heard, but probably don’t believe. Maybe you think it’s not important enough to actually addreess for more than ten seconds. But it is.

Everything in existence is in existence

only because it exists in your brain.

     If you think you’re not sure of yourself, or your ideas, or your abilities to pull off that big sale, or achieve that far-reaching goal, or dig yourself out of the hole you’re in, you can be sure you’ll succeed at not succeeding.

     Every single second that your mind drifts to doubtful feelings, you are pulling yourself deeper into defeat. Every second you can reverse that feeling counts for getting two seconds closer to success. How can you reverse a negative tide that’s sweeping through you, or under you, over or around you? The answer may sound trite, especially to those low on energy or willpower, but it is fact.

     You must start by learning and using every tidbit of information you can possibly know about you! You are the only person on Earth who knows what makes you tick, but you’ve probably set yourself up thousands of times to sweep what you know about the real you under your own rug!

     If you can know the thoughts, ideas, circumstances, people, environments, feelings, comments, memories, awarenesses, and emotions that weaken you, you are half-way to conquering self-doubt. Work at it. The most self-assured people in the world work at this nonstop for their lifetimes. Fears never go away, but the awareness of what triggers fear can be controlled.

     We’re not talking about simple rationalization here. You can’t read this and then go about your merry way being suddenly transformed and confident. You CAN, however, make a commitment to yourself that you will work at it and keep working at it because fear sucks! Because fear creates self-doubt and self-doubt will make a loser of you, and that itself is a fear to eliminate.

     How successful do you truly think you could be with both hands tied behind your back and a bag over your head? Yet, being afraid and choosing to set yourself up for self-doubt to keep creeping in is creating the same impossible, insurmountable degree of handicap. So the next step is to keep reminding yourself that the feelings that are holding you back, that are threatening to you are ones you somehow choose.

     Take some deep breaths http://halalpiar.com/?page_id=35 and collect yourself and remind yourself that no one knows more than you about you and the ways you do the things you do, so no one else can make choices for you. Choose to rise above it all. Choose to make it work. Choose to make it easy. Choose to be the success you are capable of being. Choose to appreciate your SELF! 

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      . . . I’m open to your input anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thank you for visiting. Good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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“I am me. In all the world,

there is no one else

 exactly like me. 

I am OK!”

–Virginia Satir

     Run your own business? Post these 18 words on your dashboard, mirror and refridgerator . . . Why? Because even entrepreneurs need reassurance, and especially when economic uncertainties have a way of making us all feel like too many things–often including our selves–are sometimes NOT okay.

     Have you ever felt like that, or am I just imagining it? Have you felt like that more in recent times than in the past? Do you sometimes think maybe the news media is trying to sink your ship by heaping negative economy stories on your already overburdened shoulders?

     Does it start to feel suffocating? Do you step back every once in a while and start to question your own self-worth? Get out of it! Rattle your cage! Change the channel! Shut down the news!

     Do you really need to take the murders, muggings, accidents, freaky and bizarre incidents and people, and the incessant dwelling on negativity to bed with you every night? Do you really need to wake up with it every morning? 

     What would happen if you shut it all down for a few days and used the time instead to relax your brain and remind yourself how truly special and unique you are? Do you really think you would miss much? If you have doubts, take a quick trip to the library or on Google through past newspaper headlines.

     Go back 20, 50, 100 years! Surprise! The names and locations change, but the stories are mostly the same. It will be like missing a week of All My Children and General Hospital. Nothing new goes on.

     As a sort of sports version of the old expression to do reality checks by pinching yourself, I don’t recommend the method former baseball slugger Bobby Bonilla used to practice, but the idea worked for him; every at-bat, he hit himself on his helmet with his bat just before stepping up to the plate. You can be sure it helped him focus his attention.

     SOMEthing that only you know about can be a “focus trigger” for you. Take a minute and think about that one thing. What snaps your awareness back when your mind starts to drift? Figure it out and use it more. Snap your brain back to the reality that YOU ARE UNIQUE. That awareness, and following the path of reality that it conjures up, is The Ultimate Small Business Stimulus Package.

     In other words, get yourself cranked up, and keep yourself cranked up. It’s catching, and others –internal customers (like associates, employees and vendors) as well as external customers will respond in ways that bring you more business. Remember that what you love doing best is what you do best, and appreciating your self more will help you succeed at doing what you do best. Now THAT’s a stimulus package!       Good Night and God Bless You – halalpiar

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HAPPY FIRST BLOGBIRTHDAY!

For those of you who have been with this from the beginning (April 24, 2008), and those who have joined and visited along the way, thank you so very much! I hope you will continue to visit and comment and subscribe, and urge your business, personal, and professional growth-minded friends and associates to stop by. I am always open to your ideas and suggestions. Please comment or email me anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (“Businessworks” in the subject line).

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Winners Hug. Winners Smile.<)

OK, Mr. or Ms. Resilience, you’re an entrepreneur and business owner. You work hard long hours and you’re tough as nails. You deal with stuff every day that friends and family can’t even begin to imagine. They can’t figure out why you don’t quit at 5pm, and why you need to “work through” weekend gatherings. They think you’re nuts, but they admire your dedication. Sound familiar? Go Get A Hug!

     As in the “take time to smell the flowers” advice, go get a hug! Too many people go through days without hugs and the withdrawal takes its toll; it chips away at the inner layers of authenticity. One of the world’s greatest family therapists, teacher/author Virginia Satir, always urged people to give and get 12 hugs a day! It was, she said, the only way to grow as a human being. Hugs motivate, she said.

     Many other emotional management experts in business and organizational development say the only way to be truly successful in business is to grow as a human being, to develop your personal authenticity and keep a sense of balance in your life. Everyone has a different way of dealing with and conquering these challenges. Giving and getting hugs is universally reassuring and effective.

     What does your hug scorecard look like for today? Yesterday? Was your last hug one you initiated, one that was delivered to you, or a spontaneous event? Was it a real one or one of those token little brush of cheeks and or shoulders? Chest contact? Forced smiles? “So nice to see you again, dear.”

     Ah, yes, and the bear hugs that come along every once in awhile from some well-intrentioned oaf who never took Hugs 101 in school and sees the occasion as time to lift you off the ground, sometimes so quickly you can’t get your hands out of your pockets!

     Well, let’s agree to limit the hug thing to family and friends. Besides, these days, you might get arrested hugging a co-worker or student or patient or client.

     So what’s the next best thing you can practice in work-settings that will help move you along the path to authenticity? Why pats on the back of course! Who among us doesn’t enjoy getting a backpat for a job well done, or well attempted, or for any small deed that rises above the daily clutter? That’s it? hugs and backpats?

     Well, no, actually, as long as you keep yourself in that genuiness frame of mind, there’s “Please” and “Thank you” and “I love you” [Also: I <3 U] and “I appreciate you” …and the most important motivator of all is the simplest. It’s called a smile. ;<) Pass it on as many times a day as you can possibly get your brain to think of it. Smiles work wonders! 

     It’s so easy to lose sight of these important messages that you need to give out often and freely, when you’re caught up in rushing toward a deadline, or fretting over a lost sale, or staring at a mountain of bills.

     But you know what? You have to keep the hugs and backpats and smiles and thanks you’s and all the rest of your fine engaging qualities out there on the table… through the worst of times as well as through the best… to make more of the worst become best. It’s contagious. It’s a choice. It’s your choice!

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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 “Happiness runs

       in a circular motion…”

 From ’60s songster Donovan: “Happiness runs in a circular motion; life is but a little boat upon the sea…” 

     And (sorry to burst your ad agency’s bubble) HAPPINESS produces sales quicker thanall the ads and promotional materials and sales spiels and websites put together. Ticking off logical product/service features and gulping down huge doses of emotional triggers don’t make sales happen as fast as genuine feelings of happiness that are contagious . . . from ANY one in your organization to ANY one who is an existing customer or prospect.

     That’s not to say you don’t NEED all that traditional and nontraditional support material, but remember that it IS “support material” and that  N~O~T~H~I~N~G  replaces the value of spreading happiness around.

     Great! you say, but where’s the “Happy Button” you’re supposed to push? It’s not like Staple’s “That Was Easy” button (which of course never made anything easy) and sometimes my people or I just feel plain old crummy and we’re simply not happy. So there’s no happiness to pass around. Period. 

     Brrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt! The buzzer says you’re wrong!

     Happiness is ALWAYS present. It’s your job to go get it!

Here are 5 STEPS TO A HAPPIER YOU WHO WILL SELL MORE. In fact, if you get TRULY and GENUINELY happier than you were yesterday, I guarantee you you’ll sell more than you did yesterday. Guaranteed! Ready? Here you go:

1) CHOOSE TO STOP SEEING THE SEA OF NEGATIVITY THAT’S ALL AROUND YOU AS NEGATIVE! Click that mental radio station in your head from 24-hour news (which is always negative) to easy listening music. And remember that no one else controls your stations or channel selector or tone and volume settings! No one else decides what goes on inside your head but YOU!

2) CHOOSE TO EXPERIENCE THE NEGATIVE PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE AS NEEDY INSTEAD OF NEGATIVE. Think of them as people who need and are waiting for some positive sign from you — a word, a look, a touch that encourages, reassures. It might only take one positive sign from you for them to become positive themselves. They have a NEED to think and feel more positive. You can make the difference. You have the power.

3) FIX YOUR SIGHTS ON “HERE & NOW.” Take some deep breaths and pay attention to what’s right in front of you with each passing moment. Work to put the past (more than a minute ago) behind you and the future (more than one minute from now) off to the side. Both are fantasy. Reality is the present moment only!

4) SURROUND YOURSELF WITH POSITIVE MUSIC AND POSITIVE PEOPLE. Unfortunately, there’s not ever really enough positive music, but it IS out there. Find it. Dig it out. Put it on your ipod. Put it in your head. It’s your choice, no one else’s. Hum it. Sing it. Whistle it. Write out the lyrics. Program it into your brain. Positive people? They’re everywhere. Put your antennas up!     

5) TRY RECITING ALOUD A PRESENT TENSE GOAL STATEMENT THAT SOUNDS SOMETHING LIKE THE FOLLOWING, AND DO IT REPEATEDLY — WHEN YOU AWAKE, WHEN YOU SHOWER, WHEN YOU EXERCISE, WHEN YOU COMMUTE, WHEN YOU GO TO BED, AS YOU WALK. Something LIKE (make up your own!): “I am happy and healthy and physically fit. I am alert, safe and sound, wealthy, pain-free, emotionally clear, XYZ pounds, and I am selling more everyday by making everyone around me happier. Happiness is my path!”

Doubtful? Skeptical? Don’t be! It works! I have many hundreds of examples to prove it. Try it! What’s the worst could happen? You’ll be less miserable? HA! Start today and sell more tomorrow! (and it’s FREE!)

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

 “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Give Your SELF A Chance!

     Well, unless you’re a major bank or automaker, you’re probably not going to see much of any meaningful stimulus plan benefits coming your way anytime soon. So, here’s how to make your own: “Your Own Personal Stimulus Plan” requires three things.

     All three are FREE (How about that? Not a bad start, huh?).

     Okay, the first of these, which you will need in order to make the most of the other two, is best summed up by staying on this same site, different page, and clicking here: http://halalpiar.com/?page_id=35 (sorry I haven’t yet mastered the little techie trick of consolidating this link into one word).

     Anyway, you need only to spend 60 seconds on this link page to get it. And–on top of everything else–I guarantee that if you treat the exercise seriously and do it faithfully just 1-3 times a day (for a minute each, even while doing something else!)–in just one week!–you will feel and be happier, healthier, more productive, and have a stronger sense of self-control. You will be more personally stimulated and better equipped to rally your own economy! 

What have you got to lose besides stress and upset feelings? I know. Right! And FREE! What more could you ask for? How can I be so sure? Because it’s worked for 20,000 out of 20,000 people I’ve taught it to who have treated it seriously and who have done it faithfully.

     Let go of doubt, skepticism, dubiousness (now there’s a word!) and just allow yourself to be receptive for 60 seconds. 6 0  S E C O N D S !!! Your age and level of health have no bearing on effectiveness here. Give your SELF a chance to be and feel better every day.

     Okay, now comes the second and third things (you thought I forgot?). These may be even easier now that you’ve mastered the first. Here’s the “Personal Stimulus Plan” deal:

     Go find yourself some person who is younger than 7 years-old and spend an hour with her or him…listening, singing, dancing, playing, whatever floats this youngster’s boat. Get down on the floor (or at least eye level) and enjoy the company. Be sure to listen 80% of the time! Learn something from this child, and learn something about youself in the process.     

     Next (and this need not be the same day, but as soon as possible afterward): Go find yourself some person who is older than 80 years-old and spend an hour with him or her…listening, singing, dancing, playing, whatever floats this oldster’s boat. Ask questions. Listen. Get into her or his “head space” and enjoy what you experience as you learn something new and as you learn something new about you.

Take the new stimulated you to work and watch what happens. It’s not, btw, a bad idea to give this little plan legs every quarter, every month, even every week.

OPEN MINDS OPEN DOORS! Happy Entrepreneuring!

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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“Is what I am doing right now

helping me get

where I want to go?”

     This is a very Gestalt question in some ways because it prompts a focus on the here-and-now, present, what’s-happening moment that’s right smack in front of your face (…which mentally and emotionally, is the healthiest place your mind can be!).

     In other ways, though, it may seem too futuristic a focus for Gestalt purists because it could be construed to be entertaining or spotlighting the destination or finish line instead of the here-and-now journey. 

     But no matter how you philosophize it, the bottom line is that the question works!

     In fact, the more often you consider this question, the greater its impact. Of course, you are the only one who can answer it. And it should probably go without saying that it can only be as effective as you are honest with yourself. But what will prompt you to ask yourself in the first place?

     If it’s not beneath you, or too contrived, or too childish, there really and truly is no better way than to plaster your life with it. Print it out in different sizes and colors with different fonts. [If you’re the artistic type, try different shapes and illustrations to go with the words–a clock, a goalpost, a stack of money, a portrayal of you as the boss, or physically fit, or in perfect health, or whatever result you seek.]

     Next, tape the different versions to your bathroom mirror, your closet shelf, the inside of your refrigerator, your dashboard or sunvisor. Put a small version on your watchband or watchface frame, your rearview mirror, inside your wallet or pocketbook, inside your briefcase, on your TV screen frame and remote control, on your computer monitor, as a screen-saver . . . anyplace you will see it during the day . . . and leave these question prompts up for three weeks.

     Take them down in 21 days, when you will hopefully no longer need them (at least if and until you find yourself drifting back into wasteful behavior patterns: dwelling too much on the past, for example, which is over and you can do nothing about anyway, or worrying too much about the future which hasn’t come yet, and may never anyway!).

     This brings us back to the journey. It is more fun and healthier all-around to be tuned in to where you are instead of where you expect to end, but that doesn’t mean you should gloss over your goals. Always keep them (your goals) on the horizon you aim for, but pay closest attention to each step you take–as you take it–instead of tripping over your own feet while you become preoccupied fixing your gaze on the distant target.

     My question: Is whatever you are doing right now helping you get where you want to go? Your answer?

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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I’m so happy and so grateful,

clap my hands! CLAP, CLAP!

I’m so happy and so grateful,

clap my hands! CLAP, CLAP!

I’m so happy and so grateful,

I could eat another plateful,

I’m so happy and so grateful,

clap my hands! CLAP, CLAP!

     Okay, so when’s the last time you acted like a 3 year-old and danced around the room and did this little routine, or something like it? C’mon, be honest. Weeks? Months? Years? Never? Well I have some good news and some bad news. I know, I know, you want the bad news first.

     Here it is: If the last time you danced around the room and did a dumb, childish little happy act mixed with a dose of gratefulness was longer ago than this morning, you’ve been eating stress between meals! If it’s been weeks, months, years, or (heaven forbid) “never” you may be well on your way to premature death, or you may already be dead?

     Ah, but the good news is: ratta-tat-tat, ratta-tat-tat (yeah, a pretty feeble drumroll, but, hey, we’re talking 3 year-olds here). The GOOD news is that you can turn your whole life around right this minute by getting up from your computer (go ahead; I’ll wait!), by taking a deep breath (go ahead; I’ll wait again!) and by  stretching. Good!

     Now, dance in place! Yeah, right there where you are, just you and your screen; put some music on if you want. The thing is D A N C E ! You wanna shout? S H O U T ! Whoop it up! Yell out some appreciation for all the great things you have right this very minute. Sing out!

Hey, I’m a grateful plateful and I’m so happy to have my slippers and my incense and my icy glass of water! Yaaa, ya-ya-ya-ya!”

(or whatever strikes your fancy is fine; in fact, delete me here if it makes you nervous!) 

     Try clapping your hands! It’s okay. Your family or neighbors or dog may think you’ve finally lost it, but, oooh, doesn’t it feel good? Really, doesn’t it? Just imagine how good you can feel every day by moving your body and losing your brain–for just one minute like that–every day!

     You may not be able to stand yourself. (But you’ll be happy and grateful. And that brings you more incidents, things, people, places, experiences, and ideas to be more happy and more grateful for. That sure beats being unhappy and ungrateful and creating more incidents, things, people, places, experiences, and ideas to make you more unhappy and ungrateful.)

     What’s the old saying about misery loves company!? Bull! You don’t need to buy into that thinking. You owe it to your SELF to be happy and healthy and thankful. I’ll tell you what: if anybody can leave a comment here that tells me what could possibly be more important to YOU than those three qualities, I’d like to hear about it. This offer, by the way, does not apply to zombies, hermits, cannibals or vampires

     The bottom line: EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE THE SERIOUS BUSINESS TYPE AND PEOPLE ADMIRE YOU FOR THAT, GET UP, BREATHE, STRETCH, SHAKE, SHOUT, SING, CLAP AND LET YOURSELF GO. (If you’re REALLY worried, do it in the closet!) JUST DO IT. IT IS A CHOICE!

TREAT YOURSELF! IT IS A CHOICE! DO IT EVERYDAY! IT IS A CHOICE! You will surprise yourself with your new one-minute-let-loose-personality. And others will like you even more! IT IS YOUR CHOICE! ;<)    

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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Hope Is NOT The Answer.

(Neither is government spending nor business borrowing!)

     The old business adage, “NOTHING HAPPENS ‘TIL THE SALE IS MADE” applies more today than ever! I have noted here often that budget slashing, and save-on-expenses mentalities end up digging an even deeper hole because they divert energy away from what needs to be done to put the economy on a rebound and growth track.

     Economic recovery can ONLY happen when more businesses decide to make it happen. We have to blow off mainstream media’s efforts to drag the public into the maelstrom they’re busy creating in their relentless quest to sell more print advertising space and more broadcast commercial time.

     When businesses decide to focus on sales and entrepreneurial pursuits, we will see increased financial stability across the boards. Sounds simple, huh? Unfortunately, our own business-inexperienced government is essentially leading the blockade to progress on this front…token small business incentives don’t cut it!

     Add to the government’s misguided energy and maniacal spend and borrow and tax mentality the sad truth is that many business people have simply given up, and the saving-grace focus we’re talking about turns out to not be so simple after all. 

     Government spending and business borrowing? Digest this (following) quote made 5 days ago in a European Parliament speech by Daniel Hannon MEP who was targeting the English Prime Minister with some realistic advice:

You cannot spend your way out of recession,

or borrow your way out of debt!”

[See www.Hannon.co.uk for more.]

     If you are an entrepreneur or run your own business, you need to be resolute in your thoughts and actions. You need to be literally invulnerable in your convictions that hope may spring eternal, but it simply does NOT fuel or grow business in any way–never has, never will. ONLY sales do that.

     Like throwing two baseballs at equal velocity with both arms simultaneously, the most difficult task for any entrepreneur or business owner is to be running your business and selling your business at the same time. Yet that is what has to happen.

     This means, you must be willing and able to go the extra mile with customers, prospects, employees, vendors, your industry, your community, your family, and your own health and fitness. Dropping any one of these from the pursuit equation will collapse the energy around those that remain.

     Okay, HOW? you ask. By paying attention to having fun instead of feeling pressure (the feeling-pressure guys have already boarded up and left town). By paying more attention to exercise and eating and sleeping right, by laughing more, and by learning and using stress management techniques , by taking a yoga class, a jog, a walk, another walk, more walks. 

     As for help, what’s suggested here isn’t much, but–like everything else in life–suggestions are what you make of them. It’s always your choice about how to proceed. The rest of what happens is up to you.  

Good Night and God Bless You!  

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I Am So Happy To See Your

Smiling Faces (and avatars!)

Thank you all my Twitter friends, and welcome to my daily business, personal and professional growth blog. I look forward to more of your visits and comments. Have a wonderful week ahead! Hal

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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SPIT: Rarely the object of

attention in a tender love story

     If we laugh out loud the first time we see a child’s bib block lettering proclaim “SPIT HAPPENS,” it may be because those of us with little kids in our lives know it does.  Or perhaps the humor surfaces as our minds flash unwittingly to the bumper stickers (with the adult version of the saying) and know instinctively for it to be true grit more often than not.  Isn’t it, after all, simply the unsophisticated, Americanized version of C’est La Vié?

     Spit.  We do it in disgust.  We do it in relief.  We watch baseball players do it on TV 14,397 times every game.  Boxers have their own buckets.  Spit conjures up thoughts of adrenaline, mucus, repulsion and sinusitis.  Sometimes we miss the spittoon, the gutter, the car window (yucht!) and end up with it on our sleeves, the fronts of our shirts, the tops of our shoes, rivuleting uncontrollably down our cleavages or hunkering down somewhere deep inside the thickest of our beards.

     Spit is swapped and mopped, and comes in all shapes and colors and levels of viscosity (yucht again!).  Then there’s the specialized version of spit we all know as flem.  Flem—having once been front and center in the embryonic form of a booger that got sniffed back—usually originates as a kind of loose stalagtite structure hanging mercilessly from the back recesses of the nasal passages. 

     Flem can be lumpy, smooth, or intricately woven into kiwi and mustard colored strands, occasionally available in nasty deep brown globs.  The thickest and most projectile-worthy of these is probably preceded by a throat ravaging clearance effort that sounds like a lot of little haagggt, haagggt, haagggt noises—or one death-rattling H-A-A-A-A-A-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G-T !!!

     Tough guys spit from atop their horses, tanks, and tractors.  Adolescent boys (and some adolescent-minded men!) will dry themselves up by having distance and closest-to-the-wall contests.  But many of the winners move onward and upward to the higher challenge of launching their spittle from rooftops, movie balconies, and prime bridge locations over passing cars, boats, and trains … and unwary pedestrians.  Tomboys and other masculine females use it to draw their lines in the sand, and don’t dare step past the bubbly little puddle!

Anyway, one thing’s certain: spit has rarely been the object of attention in a tender love story. Until now. 

Stay on this site and just click here for (in the words of the immortal Paul Harvey) the rest of the story (just a few very short paragraphs!) :

http://halalpiar.com/?page_id=30  

Good Night and God Bless You!  halalpiar     

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