{"id":632,"date":"2007-11-13T10:45:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-13T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html"},"modified":"2007-11-13T10:45:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-13T10:45:00","slug":"5-ways-to-pick-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Pick a Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to reader Stephanie who sent me &#8220;It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In the Wrong Company&#8221; awhile back in an e-mail. It expresses the same wisdom that my mom articulated when she told me to &#8220;stick with the winners.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In The Wrong Company<\/strong><br \/>\nThe less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve.<br \/>\nAny time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity.<br \/>\nAn important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where they are.<br \/>\nFriends that don&#8217;t help you climb will want you to crawl.<br \/>\nYour friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don&#8217;t increase you will eventually decrease you.<br \/>\nConsider this:<br \/>\n<em>1.    Never receive counsel from unproductive people. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<em>2.    Never discuss your problems with someone incapable of contributing to the solution, because those who never succeed themselves are always first to tell you how.<\/em> Not everyone has a right to speak into your life. You are certain to get the worst of the bargain when you exchange ideas with the wrong person.<br \/>\n<em>3. Don&#8217;t follow anyone who&#8217;s not going anywhere.  With some people you spend an evening: with others you invest it. <\/em><br \/>\n<em>4. Be careful where you stop to inquire for directions along the road of life.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>5. Wise is the person who fortifies his life with the right friendships. <\/em><br \/>\nIf you run with wolves, you will learn how to howl. But, if you associate with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights. &#8220;A mirror reflects a man&#8217;s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses.&#8221; The simple but true fact of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate &#8211; for the good and the bad.<br \/>\nHappy moments? Praise God<br \/>\nDifficult moments? Seek God<br \/>\nQuiet moments? Worship God<br \/>\nPainful moments? Trust God<br \/>\nEvery moment? Thank God<br \/>\nHave a blessed and prosperous day.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thanks to reader Stephanie who sent me &#8220;It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In the Wrong Company&#8221; awhile back in an e-mail. It expresses the same wisdom that my mom articulated when she told me to &#8220;stick with the winners.&#8221; It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In The Wrong Company The less you&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-friendships"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Ways to Pick a Friend - Beyond Blue<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 Ways to Pick a Friend - Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thanks to reader Stephanie who sent me &#8220;It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In the Wrong Company&#8221; awhile back in an e-mail. It expresses the same wisdom that my mom articulated when she told me to &#8220;stick with the winners.&#8221; It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In The Wrong Company The less you&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-11-13T10:45:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beyond Blue\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 Ways to Pick a Friend - Beyond Blue","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 Ways to Pick a Friend - Beyond Blue","og_description":"Thanks to reader Stephanie who sent me &#8220;It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In the Wrong Company&#8221; awhile back in an e-mail. It expresses the same wisdom that my mom articulated when she told me to &#8220;stick with the winners.&#8221; It Is Better To Be Alone, Than In The Wrong Company The less you&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html","og_site_name":"Beyond Blue","article_published_time":"2007-11-13T10:45:00+00:00","author":"Beyond Blue","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html","name":"5 Ways to Pick a Friend - Beyond Blue","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-11-13T10:45:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-11-13T10:45:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#\/schema\/person\/47318cdf8063cc052eccff0c99db4e75"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/2007\/11\/5-ways-to-pick-a-friend.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 Ways to Pick a Friend"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondblue\/","name":"Beyond Blue","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Therese J. 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