Associations

Who are you around? Who do you spend most of your time with? Are they helping you achieve your dreams and goals or are they persuading you to be someone you'er not? Of course it doesn't have to be blatant as in "what are you doing that for?" "what are you reading that for?" "Why do you want to be fit / thin / healthy / rich for? I like you just the way you are." But it can be subtle.

Your friends and acquaintances are complaining about their lives, their jobs, their kids, their spouses and sooner or later you come away and you feel down and depressed, or worse still you joined in and agreed with them on a couple of points.

Let me put it this way - if you are talking to people who are always looking something / someone to blame, moan about, complain about or otherwise be negative about - do me a favour and find someone else to talk to because I can guarantee you will not be able to get fired up about your dreams and goals after that kind of session.

Of course there are also the dangerous kinds of associations - I found out on the weekend that one of my sons acquaintances has been exercising his artistic skills on a variety of outdoor canvases. Another of my sons friends let slip to his parents and she told me....well to say we were horrified is an understatement. You see, there is such a thing as guilt by association and we have advised our boys that if they see and watch and do nothing they can be found just as guilty as if they too had weilded marker pens and spray cans. Which rather shocked them. I've not seen the "artist" since this revelation but have to say I am immensely disappointed and will tell him so. Whether it makes any difference in the long run is another matter. As we all know - only he can change his behaviours. Only he can want to change his behaviours. Only he can decide whether his other associates are helping him or not. After all, he may want to be a professional artist...but I don't think so.

Make a note of your associates - are they positive, negative or neutral?
Then its important for you to expand your positive associations and diminish those with a more negative outlook on life.
But one final thought for today - If you had to add yourself to that list you just created which category would you put yourself in?

To add your comments -

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Today's blog entry: Focus on your own personal development:
Are you guilty of doing the same things in the same way every day? Are they good things? As in - are these "things" allowing you to achieve your goals and dreams or are they just "things" you do without consciously thinking about them? Yes I mean your habitual behaviour. I have been focusing on entirely the wrong things of late. I know what. Yet I find I cannot switch my mind away from them very easily.....
Read more at - http://www.motivateme.info/through-the-barrier/2008/8/18/focus-on-your-own-personal-development.html

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What I am currently reading:
The Angel Inside - Chris Widener
Michelangelo's Secrets For Following Your Passion and Finding the Work You Love. Everyone loves a good story and this allows the author to pass on personal and professional development "secrets" through a teachers stories about one of the greatest sculptors the world has ever known. And how Michelangelo's skills as a sculptor and artitst can help you find your passion in life.

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Today's thought for the day:

"And remember, no matter where you go, there you are."
Confucius 551 - 479 BC:
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Kind Regards
Elle
Overcoming the procrastination habit with a daily dose of motivational medicine.
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