Who You Associate With Says A Lot About YOU

Did you know, WHO you associate with says a lot about who YOU are?

This is no news to parents, who if they are good parents watch carefully the friends of their kids particularly in adolescence, cause if a son or daughter falls in with a bad crowd, well bad things tend to happen.

I think even as adults our associates, our relationships, our friends, our significant others we bump into it is somewhat a hit and miss affair. Happenstance sometimes. We hire someone as an assistant and they turn out to be a great friend. We have much in common. We start conversing with someone on a blogging network or Facebook and they become all of a sudden a confidante, a new business associate in another area of the country, or even a personal relationship, a Soulmate? You never know how these things develop.

But also as adults we need to GUIDE OURSELVES through the "honeymoon period" after being enamored with the newness of someone else and see if they are truly good for us. Now I don't have the all inclusive list of who should be your friends or close relationships but looking at this from a positive point of view, keeping them around or kicking them to the curb after six months may be in order with reviewing these characteristics. Similar to a significant other relationships, opposites can attract, they can fill your "gaps" but similarities endure within the cores of two people to make the relationship "stick."

Are they???

• Encouragers - on most given days they uplift you
• Have differences that stimulate you - people with other points of view can intrigue you, they are conservative you are liberal, religious vs. not so, country vs. city, open and boisterous vs. private, adventuresome vs. stay at home, loud vs. quiet, social with people vs. more reserved. As long as the difference presented to you is an area of growth with respect for who you are all the time and they don't "impose" their will on you
• Full of smiles - any good "connection" will have this chemistry element to it where you will enjoy time spent with them. They are engaging and you can easily laugh with them
• Safe to be with - as a relationship with anyone develops over time, you drop your shields, they drop theirs. If this is not happening you still have a stiff relationship, and if it does not ever get more comfortable it is not meant to be
• Respectful - in all forms. Respect for you time. Respect for your values. Respect for who you are with all your human frailities. Respect for your opinion from your life path. This is not an instantaneous check mark, but something that is worked on over time
• Reasonably consistent - in all ways. Communication. They don't treat you like an Option with being Hot and Cold toward you, one week your friend, the next week they disappear on to something more important, than like a boomerang come back
• Cool - this is another chemistry intangible factor. You have to look inside yourself and know what COOL is to you, but if you look at the above collection of dogs picture, these guys are all COOL together. Your assemblage of friends, associates, relationships, and PARTICULARLY your significant other is COOL with you. They are your peeps, BROS, sistahs, your posse', your trusted gang

Evaluate all new relationships especially about the six month point and see if for you it is time to fire a friend due to them being self absorbed, not an encourager, egotistical, a jerk, arrogant, inconsistent or a flake, negative, narcissistic, or on the other hand they have made YOUR CLUB's membership rules.

We all can use "more" GREAT people in our lives. YOU are the one letting them have the key to your life and quite possibly the key to your heart!! Choose well.