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As I watched my infant son snooze away the afternoon, the old adage “You are the company you keep” popped in my head.
I suppose his sweet, five-month-old face reminded me of how impressionable we all are.
I also know I read or heard this somewhere:
We become the five people who are closest to us.
Wow, really?
It makes you think, you know?
So.
How do we spend our time?
What values, attitudes, and energies make up our days?
Because influence not only comes from our family, friends, and co-workers, but also from our daily dose of life.
news; books; TV; movies; games; music; online social forums
{{Input, output. What goes in is what comes out.}}
Hmm.
I don’t make a habit of following celebrity tabloids (from this century, anyway), but for whatever reason I caught something Angelina Jolie said, and it always stayed with me.
I’m paraphrasing, but she said something along the lines of:
“At the end of the day, I just want to be a smarter person.”
Me too, yo.
I want to surround myself with:
Intelligence.
Integrity.
Passion.
Creativity.
Critical Consciousness.
I want to live my life with curiosity. I want to take the adventures, eat the food, and sip the drinks.
I want to be loyal.
I want to be kind.
I want to be humble enough to admit I’m human.
For I am only one person, but I will be the best one I can be.
. . .

SnapDragon is a writer, painter, and flawed human being.
Follow her Two-Bit Musings and more on Snippets of SnapDragon.
wonderful post, Snap Dragon. I am a fan of the idea that we are the average of the five people we hang with…
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Thanks, Jim! Yeah, itβs a sobering thought. May we choose wisely! π
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I wish I knew about it when I was younger!
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Haha. For real.
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Those are outstanding attributes to look for in friends and you offer great advice for self improvement. Enjoy time with your son and cat. π
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Thank you, friend! I will do just that. Wishing you well! π
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Really nothing better than a kind heart
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So. True. ππ»
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Thanks, this is what I needed to read.
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My pleasure, friend. Thanks for reading. π
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You have a Sphynx!
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Oh, I do indeed! She is amazing. And super needy. Her name is Raja.
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I can believe that. Iβm actually asocial/unsocial after many years (DECADES) of being with people ALL the time (theatre, dance, music). So I donβt have five people I spend my time with, I have four: my husband, twos, and my pre-school granddaughter. The time we share talking and playing and just relaxing together is magic for me. I love who we are together. I started to hate who I was with everybody else. Needed some peace and quiet.
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I think we all need a little bit of time to ourselves, for sure!
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That was supposed to be βtwo sons.β
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so totally agree with you! I’m currently spending more time with my nuclear fam…and there’s always a bit of humor here and there. so hopefully that humorous quality stays with me for life. it makes life more fun
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π
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