The Company You Keep

According to Daniel G. Amen, M.D. in his book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, “Spending time with positive people is essential to the health of the brain’s deep limbic system – the bonding and mood control center.”

Who do you spend more time with than anyone else?

No, it’s not your co-workers or your family—it’s you!

So…. if YOU’RE no picnic…. perhaps you are in some trouble.

The Law of Attraction says you attract more of what you focus on. When we indulge ourselves in negative states of mind, it is more impactful than spending time with a roomful of Oscar-the-Grouch wannabes.

We all know the impact of being surrounded by negative people. How often have you thought, “Well, sure! I would be in a much better mood if it weren’t for all these grouchy co-workers!” When that thought occurs, who’s the closest grouch? It’s actually funny—you’re being grouchy about grouches!

If hanging out with curmudgeons is such a powerful influence, imagine the impact when we’re alone and the only negative person in the room is the one looking back at us in the mirror! We can’t walk away or hide. What we need to do is counteract the negativity.

How?

When you’re experiencing any kind of negative emotion, (anger, despair, frustration, impatience) the Law of Attraction guarantees that it will get worse. Remember, like attracts like. If you envision your emotions as a whirlpool, you would see that the spiral is cycling downward. The trick is to reverse the spiral so it’s moving in an upward direction. The easiest way to do this is to go for some relief. Here are some suggestions:

• Call someone who makes you happy.

• Set a timer for five minutes and have a rip-roaring rant-and-rave. When
the timer goes off, stop. I guarantee you’ll experience relief from how
you were feeling.

• Ask yourself, “How do I want to feel?” This points you in the right direction.

• Look around for something that will bring even the teeniest of smiles to
your lips.

• Go to a “feel good” movie.

• Take a nap. When you sleep, you release all negativity.

• Do something kind for someone else.

In order to attract the positive people you’d like to spend time with, it’s important that you understand how to shape your own mood. It’s always fascinating that we want other people to conduct themselves in a certain way so that we will feel better. That’s not the way it works. In order to attract people who act the way we want, we must first make sure that we are behaving in that manner. You cannot attract behavior that is different from how you are being in that moment.

So become the person you would most like to hang out with. Treat yourself the way you wish others would. Give yourself the gifts you want others to present to you. Say the kind things to yourself that you long to hear from them. In a very short time, you will notice that you are surrounded by people who are good for your deep limbic system. Your moods will be better and you will be bonding with the kinds of people you always wanted to.

That’s because you’re now the kind of person you always wanted to attract and, as a result, you’re always in good company.

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