By Christopher Green
Best-Practice Principles for Your Path of Success
One of my spiritual daughters called and asked for some advice. I had just written these thoughts earlier that day, so I was able to share what had just come to my heart. I'll share with you what I gave to her.
There are at least five kinds of people that will come along as you journey through life and they are part of your process of success.
You will encounter the:
1. Curious – They just observe you and watch you. They may hang around for a couple of weeks or even months, but they eventually move on once they discover that you are not going to allow them to drain you. Others leave when they realize you have nothing that they want or need anymore.
2. Critics – After observing you, they begin to make assessments and evaluations based upon their own standards or personal preferences. They are usually comparing you to a person they know, to a person they would like to be, or to the mythical person that no one can be. They are not the same as a close friend who will tell you the truth about yourself or give you constructive criticism. The negative energy that the “Critics” bring into your space can be so strong that you can begin to doubt yourself. Every time they are around, you feel you should check yourself in the mirror to see if there’s something stuck in your teeth or hanging from your nose. You always feel self conscious around them and not self confident. If you wait for them to leave your space, they never will. You have to politely clear them out of your path.
3. Crazies – They are consumers and never producers. They are the pretenders and the time wasters (blood suckers and leeches), who do nothing more than collect from you and never contribute to you. They bring confusion and drama. They seek attention and demand being the star on the stage of your life. Their behavior is often bizarre with no obvious rhyme or reason for being in your space, other than the fact that they are miserable and misery loves company.
4. Close, but not quite right - They may seem to be close to you, but you know in your heart of hearts, that there's no real connection. They may be interested in what you do (and what you can do for them), but not in you. They seem to be in full support of your dream, but proceed cautiously because they will never fully support you. You will be great for them, but don't expect them to be great for you. You will definitely help them in their journey, but the contributions they will make to your journey will be primarily in the area of lessons learned from having these type of people in your life.
This relationship is neither good or bad, positive or negative. It is what it is. It can start great, but end here. Most of us have been these type of people in someone's journey at some point. We needed more help than we could offer to them. Most of the Close-But-Not Quite-Right people don’t know this about themselves. However, you will realize it when you begin to withdraw from one another, the more you realize you're not in agreement with one another. Even though they are in your space, you will eventually see that you're not quite right for one another, nor for where you are all going.
5. Commissioned – They are ones that were sent by God to YOU. They will be committed to you, complementary to you (not competing with you), and feel connected to you. They will use their creativity, competencies, and compassion to benefit you and your journey. The best part is that you will discover that you are a good fit in their life as well. Your creativity, competencies, and compassion will be beneficial to them and their journey. You were sent by God to connect with them in the same way. In most cases they may not be with you for very long, but when you part ways, you will both be better off, for having been in one another's lives.
Chris Green is a Certified Professional Life Coach and co-founder of C and C Connections, LLC.
