These six articles were the most often read on Hodu.com in 2010. You may have missed some of them, or you might want to refresh your knowledge, or you might find something that will be helpful in solving a new issue that cropped up in your life. Let’s get right down to it. Enjoy!

How to Tell If Someone is a True Friend

“I’m so frustrated about the friends that I have”, someone wrote to counsellor Tristan Loo. “I trusted someone who I thought was a good friend of mine and I ended up getting used. I really can’t tell who is really a friend and who is just fake and trying to use me. I used to trust my own judgment, but now…I’m not so sure. Can you please give me some advice?”  Read what Tristan wrote in reply.

The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Why It Matters More Than Personality Emotional Intelligence Quotient, or EQ, is a term being heard more and more often in human resources departments and even in executive board rooms. What exactly is EQ, how is it different from personality, and how has it proven to impact the bottom line in the workplace?   Learn all about it here.  

Seven Barriers to Great Communication

It’s not always easy and often takes a lot of determination. But making an effort to remove the obstacles – tangible and intangible – that stand in our way, can be the key to building relationships that really work.  What are the barriers and how do you remove them?

Are Rude People Irritating You?

When the impudence, thoughtlessness or sheer bad manners of people around you begins to weigh you down, consider these five key points  to make sure you don’t fall into the same trap.

Strangers in the Workplace: The Tragedy of Estranged Family Members

“My brother cut off all contact with my parents the night before Thanksgiving,” writes family therapist Dr Joshua Coleman. “He was 25 at the time. ‘I’m not coming this year,’ he told my mother. ‘I need some time away from you and dad. I don’t know how long, but I won’t be calling you, and please don’t call me.’
My mom cried and my father got mad.”

What causes strained relations even in the best of families, and even when there had been no previous signs of tension?    What can be done to clear the air? This is a must read!

A  Step-by- Step Checklist For Difficult Conversations

Think of a conversation you’ve been putting off. Got it? Great. Then let’s go.

There are dozens of books on the topic of difficult, crucial, challenging, important (you get the idea) kinds of conversations. Those times when you know you should talk to someone, but… well, you don’t. Maybe you’ve tried before and it went badly. Or maybe you fear that talking will only make the situation worse. Still, there’s a feeling of being stuck, and you’d like to free up that stuck energy for more useful purposes.

No need to procrastinate further.  Take these steps to get rid of that gnawing anxiety and get going fast.

For more articles on these or a wide range of related topics, simply go to our site and choose from the menu you’ll find on the top left of every page. Or, for something more specifi c, use one the search boxes you’ll find all over.

Azriel Winnett is the author of the highly acclaimed, eye-opening book How to Build Relationships That Stick. An enhanced edition is now available as a paperback.