Influence: A thing or a person that has the power to affect another

You may not recognize it but the things and people around you have a large say in what you think and what you do. We all are under the influence of other people, to some degree or another. The question is, what are you allowing to influence you?

Most of us never even think to ask this question. Yet we are being influenced, and not all the influences are positive. We are allowing influencers to direct our emotions, our thoughts, and our lifestyle.

The result of all these influences in our lives shapes how we see the world. They impact how we interpret current events, relationships, and even our future. The world is colored for us, and it's primarily colored because of those competing messages that are vying for attention every day.

We hope that as we grow older, we will begin to realize that not all influences are good, and that we will choose to allow only positive forces to form our view of the world. We should become more and more aware of how certain influences affect us. And we should make the conscious choice to turn back some influences and allow others into our life.