Wonderful post. I am sure many people can relate.

I just got a cute book at work for children about picking friends and one of the concepts really stuck with me....

Pretend that you are a director of commercials and you need to pick the stars of your commercial. The commercial is about YOU! Who you are, what you stand for, and what you believe in. Would you let your friends star in your commercial? Do you like what they say about you? Does it communicate to the world what you want the world to know about you???

I realize this doesn't relate exactly to what you were talking about but I think it is a closely related tangent. Often times, we have friends or acquaintances who are not healthy for us, who we would not want in our commercial. Even though it is hard, we have to get rid of those people because they do not contribute to our emotional and physical health. I have had to do that recently, and wow, what a difference it can make to get rid of that toxic stuff in my life. And when the people around you aren't negative, it makes it a lot easier to dismiss negative stuff from people who don't really know you!

Sorry that I got off on my own little tangent here, but hey, love your way of thinking! I love positive thinking!!!!

Amy