Magical People

My name is Trevor
I am an excellent judge of character

The world is an inspiring place. It is full of magic and wonder if you know where to look. One of the greatest places you can find the beauty of the world is in the people around you. The trick is where you focus. 

I’ve recently done a little thinking about the people that I befriend. I realised a surprising detail. I have (usually) good taste when it comes to people. I’m going to mention a couple of people in this blog post who I have chosen in my life at one point or another. 

But firstly, Facebook is a unique tool. It has huge potentials that will (probably) never reach. My activity on it has increased a lot of the last six months (it’s still not as high as some). One aspect that I have found is that it is a great tool for self improvement. I have discovered that I am really impressed by people who try to improve themselves and the world around them, usually at the same time. Both of the people that I am mentioning have done this. Facebook is one of the tools that they have used to do so.  

There was a girl that I had a crush on in early primary school. I can’t tell you too much about why eight year old me decided to develop a little crush on this girl, but he did. It was more than a few years ago now. That’s not the point of this post anyway. The point is, even at a young age, I had a sense for good people.

She is a person who is courageous enough to live her life. I mean truly live it. This doesn’t exclusively mean that she travels the world and does great things. It can mean that she sees the world. She sees it for the good in it. She sees the opportunity in it. And she shares that with the world.  

She has a blog. In the past, I would sporadically read some of these posts when they popped up on my Facebook news feed. I was impressed. She has written a number of different types of posts. There are posts about her experiences, there are insightful and philosophical posts, they are also creative. One of my personal favourites is Word Limit. This explores one of the true limits that we as humans face. Another that shows greatness is Why It Won’t Hurt Me Not To Hate Lance Armstrong. Give these two a read. She is one of the reasons that I have started a blog.

If you want to know a little about this amazing person’s experience, check out her blog: Julie Loka

Another example of the strength of character that I have a talent for picking is an old work colleague of mine. I worked for a company that drew to itself amazingly creative people. I had training programs in Sydney four times a year with all of the other managers from across Australia and New Zealand. 

I met this man on those training courses. He was new to the company and we got chatting and I gave him some advice. I didn’t realise that I had made an impression on him until he told me later. He said that I told him that when he was having a professional discussion with other people, the easiest way to make the conversation less stressful and more natural was think about what you could do for them. Focusing on how you can serve others and not what you can get from them, means that you’ll feel less like you’re imposing on others.

We often had good chats at these meetings, and occasionally on the phone. It got to the point that when we arrived at the hotel the night before the training course, we would seek each other out and one point, give each other ‘the nod’ and walk off to the local McDonald’s. As well as our endless  

discussions about Mass Effect (Krogan vs Drell). 

He’s one to use Facebook to improve himself. Recently, he posted a video of himself singing and playing the guitar. He’s learning to put them both together. He’s using Facebook as a way to reinforce that with himself. Much like I’m doing with my blog. He’s even been gracious enough to let me post a link (whether or not it works is another thing). Link to the video

You will begin to understand that when I say that the people that I choose, are amazing, it is a reasonably selfless talent that I’m praising. I can see the good in others (sometimes, they don’t even recognise it themselves) and latch on.

These two people are only examples of wonder in my life. These two people have touched me deeply. They are not common in my life anymore (there is nothing common about either of these individuals), but the impact they have had on me is timeless.

There’s more impact from the people that are in my life on a regular basis.

This is not to say that all the people who have entered my life and been close to me are of my choice. They haven’t. There was a time that I would go along with whoever had picked me. This was mainly due to a lack of self confidence. A portion of these people were using me for one reason or another. I was there for their use only. I would still hang around with these people. I figured that it was better than being alone.

I was wrong.

There was a saying that I heard that you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. During this time, some of those people were selfish and manipulative. I don’t want my ‘average’ to be unusually high in those qualities.  

I have spent my fair share of time around toxic people. But that’s not the focus, really. As a wiser person than I said: “hating is beneath anyone. It’s ugly and doesn’t solve anything.”

I discovered the need for choosing the right people to be in my life. I am doing that a lot more. I recently told a friend that one of the greatest things that I treasure about our relationship is that it was based upon common likes, not common dislikes. This is something that I am getting better at, and I encourage everyone to try to do too.

I have discovered the need to choose good. Good intentions, good feelings, good actions.

Good people.

I am incredibly thankful for the good people in my life; past, present and the future.

My name is Trevor
I have some great people in my life.
Thank you all.