The allure of the Genie appearing out of the bottle to grant us 3 wishes has never dimmed.

Today's equivalent Genie madness probably centers around winning the lottery, but our dreams can reach anywhere. Here, today, in the United States of America, in the age of technology, and with the increasing understanding of human relationships, nothing is impossible. In all the world, there is no better place or time for making wishes come true. 

I love making wishes come true. If I could get the original Genie job, I would take it in a flash. I would use one wish then to transform Jeannie into Genie. But what about the other two? As I begin to contemplate the possibilities, I realize they will take some condensing.

And you? What are your wishes? Pick them very carefully. Keep in mind the old adage, Be careful what you wish for, you might get it. Most of us, some more than others, know how true that is. So, let us think before we decide.

I have begun to ask my friends and family what their wishes would be. Ask your friends and family about their 3 wishes. The answers will tell you much.

Would we transport ourselves back in time to a crucial cross road where we made a life altering change? Would we then choose another course? Would we have more children, fewer, none? Was our education complete when we stopped formal schooling? Would we make up with a departed loved one while time still permitted? Would we share more money, love, time?

None of us can make anyone else do anything. So wishes that someone else will give us money, say she's sorry, love us, etc. are not the kind that any Genie can grant, nor ones we can make come true. What we can do, anytime we decide to do it, is change our own lives. We can get an education - at any age; apologize for our own transgressions - today; love someone unabashedly - with or without its return; and change our own behavior - starting right now.

I suspect the wishes closest to our hearts have much to do with what we ourselves would do, rather than what other people could do for us. For these, we don't need any Genie to grant those wishes. We can make our own wishes come true.

This Jeannie grants you the wishes that are deepest in your heart. All you have to do now is use them.

Jean Loxley-Barnard has been a writer all her life and studied both sociology and psychology at George Washington University where she earned a B.A. Her company, The Shopper, Inc., encompasses all the Loxley-Barnard family publications - The Shopper Magazines and Doctor to Doctor Magazine. She has been in the advertising, consulting and publishing business for 39 years.