WHO YOU ASSOCIATE WITH

This sharing is taken from 'Destiny is within you' by Musa Bako. I thought it is food for thought for some of us...

You make choices by your associations, the people with whom you connect or form alliances. These people can impact you whether you know it or not. Knowing the right people to form alliances with and the ones to keep at arm's length is a decision you must make routinely throughout your life. Your associations say much about you, your values, the dreams you have and how high you want to rise in life. The people you associate with have influence over you in some way. He who moves with the wise will be wise.

Please understand that there are people you cannot bond or form deep relationships with because of the negative impact they can have on you. You may have something to do with everybody you come into contact with but please don't be deeply and intimately involved with just anybody. If you connect with great thinkers, people of high standards in life, people with a passion for success and live positively, you are likely to start to think highly of yourself and expect great things in you.

You can associate with people in different ways. You can make associations by reading books. Books are powerful ways we connect with the spirit in the author. People write books to communicate their values, their understanding and whatever they have in them, with the intention of impacting the readers. Usually people choose a book because they want to know more about specific subject areas and those type of books can change lives.

There is an unspoken relationship that develops between a reader and the author and when the reader finds the author's experiences interesting, the book starts to influence the reader's worldview and behaviour. That's why not every book should be read, only those you desire to impact you. Books written by Kenneth E. Hagin, E.W. Kenyon, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland and TD Jakes have helped release many people into their destiny. You can connect with people by admiring their style and by watching them closely, even from a distance.

Many football stars, singers and movie stars have become models to millions of people they have not even met or know. We do not have to physically meet someone before he or she starts to influence us. When people admire others and desire to be like them, an association develops and as they watch closely and learn more, they start to be influenced in some way.

You can also form associations by fellowshipping directly with someone, which is very powerful. Who do you spend most of your time with? Who are your close confidants? They can all help to shape your life and destiny in one way or another. But there are also people who will hinder your progress and you have to disconnect with them to be able to think straight. There are people surrounding you that you have to disconnect from to overcome a habit. On the other hand, there are people you need to connect with in order to succeed in life. Your values, dreams and life goals should determine the people to align with and those to keep at arm's length.