Choose your associates wisely

Yesterday morning I was listening to the wise words of Shelly Chapman as she talked about our relationship to food. She is an amazing speaker and has some wonderful insights about the way we treat, view and consume food. I really liked her analogy of the dinner guests we bring to the table with us and as I thought about it, I felt more and more that her analogy relates to EVERYTHING!

I have heard the statement, "You may choose your friends, but not your family," or something similar to that, a few times. I reflected on this, and Shelly's analogy of dinner guests and the thought popped into my mind that we do indeed choose our friends (and I believe our family too) and I wonder how wisely we sometimes choose?

You get to determine in whose company you spend time.

If you picture your emotions and thoughts as actual people, who are they? For example, I had two very unwelcome associates for quite some time, and occasionally they still try to stop by for an uninvited visit; they are guilt and embarrassment. I don't like them very much, they don't act the way real friends do. They make me feel bad about myself and fearful of stepping out and trying new things. They are never encouraging (in a good way) and always try to make me feel less than I am in order to make themselves feel stronger. They undermine me, stab me in the back and attempt to make me choose actions because they are safe actions rather than the right actions for me. Like I said, I really don't like them, and yet, I let them stick around for a very long time. It was almost like I had forgotten I could choose not to be in their company, they had me a little defeated and thinking I couldn't escape them (bullies!!!!!!!).

One day, with some divine assistance, I asked them to leave and never return. They fought me I can tell you *smile* they whispered all sorts of negative things in my ears and used every trick in the book to try and make me let them stay. Yet I was insistent and have closed and locked the doors to them forever, even though they try and sneak back in occasionally (I have their photo ID on the door and the bouncer - thank you Raphael- has been instructed that they are on the "no entry" list).

So, who do I hang out with now? Gorgeous 'people' like creativity, enlightenment, integrity, fun, excitement, enthusiasm, wonder, joy, miracles, beauty, confidence, (she's pretty *smile*), patience, forgiveness and a whole heap of other amazing friends just like them. I'm a popular girl now; when I hung around with guilt and embarrassment, I often felt alone.

With love and light
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo