We are all the sum total of the people and events that we have come into contact with since the day we were born. These people or events, although they may have left their mark, are now behind us, and everything that happened yesterday is no longer of any consequence, unless we allow it to be. All that matters is who or what leaves its mark on today, and every day after.
What we were in the past is an established and unchangeable fact, but what we can still become is an unlimited opportunity. Therefore, we must not allow our past difficulties and failures to negatively influence our future possibilities for growth. We need to use the past, in order to build a more enjoyable future.
We are all affected by something negative, every day: one of life's greatest challenges is to recognise these sources of negativity, and find the courage, if necessary, to cast them aside. No one would willingly drink a glass of deadly poison if they knew what it was. Yet each one of us has friends, relatives, or work colleagues who have exactly the same effect on us as that poison. The only difference is that one type of poison kills instantly, while other poisons kill our hopes, ambitions, dreams, and enthusiasm.
There are always people who will discourage those who are looking for a better job but, in order to find true happiness, it is essential that we do what we want to do. We allow people to mould our character in many ways with their attitudes and ideas, and we cultivate friendships that hinder our growth and progress. Friendships, although they are vital and valuable, can be very dangerous.
Each of us 'accumulates' people, habits, attitudes, ways of doing things, opinions, and philosophies that we cannot afford to keep if we want to improve our lives. In order to change course, and improve the quality of our lives, we must 'weed’ our relationships, which is painful but necessary. It is better to have a few right friends than a thousand wrong ones, and it is better to have no friends at all than a few wrong ones!
