Rudeness covers a lot of territory. It can be talking on your cell phone at a restaurant, interrupting someone, ignoring a colleague in the parking lot, poor table manners or neglecting to say the basic polite words "please" and "thank you." Why is there rudeness in our society? There may be several contributing factors.

You may think that you're speaking clearly and it's easy to follow what you're saying, but expressing yourself effectively isn't as easy as we sometimes assume. Like any skill, it can take some practice and thought. Follow some of the points below to make sure your listeners won't have difficulty understanding what you're saying.

You may think that you're speaking clearly and it's easy to follow what you're saying, but expressing yourself effectively isn't as easy as we sometimes assume. Like any skill, it can take some practice and thought. Follow some of the points below to make sure your listeners won't have difficulty understanding what you're saying.

Projects which are assigned to groups benefit from the variety of personalities and perspectives of its members. These personalities and perspectives, however, also bring with them challenges as we try to work productively together. A technique to establish a successful working group is to approach the project with an understanding and agreement regarding how the group will interact and operate.

At work, at home and in our social circles, we carry with us a sense of our own personal space that we often unconsciously protect. Respecting another's personal space is key in maintaining good interpersonal relationships.

We all complain. While some complaining is therapeutic, it can sometimes escalate to idle ranting. There are several unfortunate consequences when we indulge in this non-stop rant-type complaining. There are ways to avoid this complaint trap and not allow your relationships to suffer from the inherent negativity in complaining. Here are three steps that can help you out.

Have you ever been invited to a party and didn't want to go but you also didn't feel comfortable simply saying 'no'? Why do we do that? Why can't we just say no? On the flip side, why is it so hard to take 'no' for an answer? Here are a few suggestions on how to respectfully take 'no' for an answer.

We all want to be accepted. We're social beings and we like feeling that we're part of the group, we enjoy being recognized and acknowledged and we desire to have a meaningful sense of belonging. These make us feel good, valued and respected. When we're excluded, we feel uncomfortable, self-consciousness, and out of place. Here are five ways you can make someone feel included.

There's a lot to be said about body language. There are some not-so-subtle clues that we can pick up on to better understand and communicate with those around us. We just need to be aware of what someone is trying to tell us by using their body, which is frequently done in unconscious ways rather than by their words.

We all make assumptions. We have so much coming at us on a daily basis that making assumptions is part of our mental filtering system that protects us from information overload. They also serve us by helping us make decisions more quickly. There are times, however, when making assumptions creates difficulties and challenges in our interactions with others and in our relationships.