A positive influence may come in many shapes and sizes. There is a theory I read about, quite a long time ago but that theory left an impact on me. It goes something like this-just the act of observing something can have an influence on what is being observed. In simple terms, to look at something or just be in its presence actually changes its nature. Now if I was to explain what this means I would have to go into a physics lesson and that is not what this is about. The overall principle and how it relates to human behavior and interaction is what I am most interested in.

When we come into contact with other people we need to have the knowledge and inclination to discern whether they will have a positive influence over us or a negative one. While people can have all sorts of influence over each other, there are two general classes that we can examine and those are negative and positive. Negative influences are to be avoided or weakened in their power over you. These are people who are pessimistic, complaining, hopeless, deceptive, and basically believing that life is an endless struggle.

Filling your life with positive influences will have a far better effect on your ultimate destiny. Positive influences are people who are optimistic, disciplined, confident, supportive, cheerful, honest, loving, and generally believing that they can control their lives and destinies. The degree of influence we have over each other is much more powerful than you may have ever known. The mere presence of someone with a negative personality can affect you in a negative way. You see attitudes are contagious.

The trick is to free yourself from the negative influences while, at the same time, opening yourself to the positive ones. Luckily, positive influences are out there in abundance, and you can surround yourself with those who hold a positive attitude for the purposes of mutual encouragement and support.

There is no reason why the negative influences in the world should have more power over you than the positive ones, or than the influence you have over your own destiny. Negative influences try to hold you back, but you can free yourself from their clutches. And the key lies in recognizing them for what they are and negating their effect on you. A positive influence will stand out in a crowd as well as a negative influence will. Therefore it is your job to choose to fill your life with only positive influences and no matter who it may be, separate yourself from the negative ones.

The amount of approval we crave from the people around us will affect how much they influence us. We consciously or unconsciously do many things to win the approval of our peers, and this does not refer only to actions or favors. The problem comes when we actually start living like the person that others want us to be in order to impress them. These are not the actions triggered by positive influences. You see it is easy to miss the signs and we may not even be aware that we are adopting the attitudes and beliefs of those around us. So, you must choose wise and well the people that make up your own personal inner circle.

To this end, it's best to be a positive influence yourself. This will serve to counter the negative influences and bring a more positive network of people into your life. In the case of influence, opposites don't attract, "likes" do. And when likes get together, the influential effect is multiplied. So surround yourself with positive influences, and watch the exponential effect this will have over your ultimate destiny.