Choosing Friendships
by, Corey Wells

Most of us seek to achieve positive outcomes in our lives. However, many of us attempt to achieve this without having a specific plan to do so. There are several factors that influence how we reach our positive goals and our friendships are one of the most influential factors of all. Because friends tend to have access to our innermost thoughts and desires, this gives them the ability to exert undue influence on our actions.

Since our friends can have substantial influence over our actions, it might be a good idea to consider exactly who your friends are. It’s often said that if you wish to be happy, you should hang around with happy people. The opposite is also true! If your friends are always complaining and hold a pessimistic view of life, you may want to re-evaluate these friendships. Take a good look at each of those you regularly associate with. Are they the positive and encouraging types, or do they spend a lot of time blaming others for adversity? If you look around and don’t like what you see, it may be time to find some new friends.

Happy people with positive attitudes are not that hard to find. You can recognize them as the ones who always handle pressure and stress well. These are the same people who are always willing to help and can brush off adversity with a smile. It’s no secret…if you want to be successful and content, then hang around with people who are happy and positive. Since your friends can have a significant influence on your actions, choose those who will provide the positive support you need. Remember, others can tell a lot about you by looking at the friends you choose to associate with.

Today’s Quotes

1. “Of all human powers operating on the affairs of mankind, none is greater than that of competition.”
   Henry Clay
2. “The water may be changed again and again, yet still there is the same stream. It widens over plains, or is prisoned and fouled by towns; always the same stream, but at last ‘even the weariest river Winds somewhere safe to sea.”
   William Kingdon Clifford
3. “When you awaken to what I call the Authentic Self, which is the spiritual or evolutionary impulse, what begins to emerge is the dawning recognition of the fact that each one of us, at our highest level, is that Authentic Self, which is actually the same energy and intelligence that originally inspired the entire creative process. You begin to intuit and feel directly connected to the very impulse that initiated the whole event fourteen billion years ago and is driving it right now.”
   Andrew Cohen
4. “Many people lose their tempers merely from seeing you keep yours.
   Frank Moore Colby
5. “Advice is like snow — the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.”
   Samuel Taylor Coleridge
6. “There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.”
   Charles Caleb Colton
7. “Men are apt to offend (’tis true) where they find most goodness to forgive.” William Congreve

8. “When one ceases from conflict, whether because he has won, because he has lost, or because he cares no more for the game, the virtue passes out of him.”
   Charles Horton Cooley