Pathwalking 102
Along your chosen path you will encounter a wide variation of people.
Some you will simply pass by. Some will be allies, some opponents. Friends, acquaintances, family, lovers, other dreamers will come into and in many instances depart from your life.
As we grow and change so to do our associations. Friends become lovers or enemies or fade away or simply remain friends. Family become closer or more distant, those once close are lost and those once lost become close and so on. Like our path, like every aspect of life, the people we are surrounded by change.
Like the choices and controls I work to take with Pathwalking, so too can I make choices with regards to the people in my life. Do I let a given person in close, or hold them at a distance? Do I let them into my inner circle and share every aspect of who I am, or do I keep them at arm’s length, or further? How do my choices effect the way I walk my path and otherwise live my life?
My Pathwalk I share readily, as evidenced by these weekly posts. I am more than happy to share with you or anyone at all the process of the journey I am on in this life. Once in a while I even divulge rather personal aspects and ideas about my own chosen path to illuminate points of the process.
How each of us groups the people in our lives is not really all that important. Friends, family, acquaintances, what-have-you, we each put different names on different people and groups of people as well as specific associations with those groups. The meaning of these groupings will be deeply personal and unique to every individual.
What does crossover between everyone is how a person in your life affects your thought process, your path, and sometimes even your actions.
While Pathwalking is a singular, personal philosophy, it cannot be denied that we are social animals. We seek other people to socialize, to bond, to connect, to procreate, to share life with in a myriad of ways. No matter how you categorize the people in your life, you will encounter influences.
These influences will be presented in one of three forms. Positive, negative, and neutral. Each will serve a purpose in any given person’s life, and the role each plays can and will change. Since almost everything in life is not static, so too are the attitudes, influences and overall associations of the people we encounter along the way.
It is important to recognize how everyone you encounter supports, ignores, or opposes your path. The reason for this is simple – if you know how someone else is towards you and your life, you will better judge what influence, advice, inspiration and attitude – if any – to take from them.
It is very important to note – as with many of the ideas I present here, this concept frequently shifts. Everyone has good days and bad days. A generally positive person who is a good influence may have a time of negativity, and present ideas that are not good for you, and vice versa. Welcome to human nature.
It is important to recognize whether you are working with a positive, a negative, or a neutral. I have mentioned this prior with regards to ideas and other aspects along a given Path, but it is equally important with regards to people, and how they effect and influence and help or hinder us.
People who are positive towards you and your path are important. They will be supportive, they will care, they will cheer you on and help you find and keep your way. Whether they are a lover or someone you just know from the internet, the positive people are a necessary support in Pathwalking. They and their attitude and influence will be helpful in keeping you on your path, and for both gathering and sharing ideas along the way.
People who are neutral towards you and your path are important. They may or may not offer support, they may or may not care, they may or may not cheer you on. This does not lessen their importance in your life. Sometimes you simply need a person to be there, whether or not their attitude and influence is of any help with Pathwalking. Sometimes we need to know what we do has no effect on anyone else or their attitudes.
People who are negative towards you and your path are important. They may be unsupportive, they may not care, they may discourage you and maybe even obstruct your way. These people are still important in your life. Why? Because they provide an example of who and what you do not wish to be. That’s not intended to be mean or cruel in any way, it goes with the notion that to know positive, you have to know negative. Negativity may not be intentionally malicious – we all know people who tend to view the world in a more negative than positive manner. But knowing this is not someone who supports your path will let you better handle their attitudes and influences accordingly.
Having this kind of knowledge about the people in your life will help you to judge in what way, if any, you allow them to influence, share, support, and overall be a part of you and your path. It will also better help you recognize whether you are a positive, neutral, or negative in the lives of the people you are associated with.
This is the one-hundred second entry in my series. These weekly posts are specifically about walking along the path of life, and my desire to make a difference in this world along the way. Thank you for joining me.
The first year of Pathwalking is available in print and for your Kindle.
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