Law of Attraction - Attracting Good People

If you've ever had a power outage in your flat and were out of candles, you'd know how useful a neighbour with some to spare can be. And it's not just times of emergency when we need a readily helpful hand; we need favours all the time from our colleagues, our friends, our relatives, our supervisors, the mailman, even the canteen "auntie". They may be mostly minor favours, but all the same, if the people around us didn't help us out every now and again, we would experience a lot more stress.

Let's go back to the example of a neighbour. Now neighbours can be great - they can help water the plants when you're on holiday, watch over your kid while you run errands, bring over food during festivals, or alert the police if they suspect you're being burgled. Neighbours can also be your worst nightmare - karaoke-ing loudly deep into the night, stealing your papers, allowing cigarette smoke to blow in through your window, and so on.

It's the same with the people we interact with on a regular basis at work and in our personal life. They can be helpful, generous and giving, or be indifferent towards us, even adversarial. If you're going to keep your stress level low, you'll have to attract and maintain a network of good, supportive people around you.

To do this, first take a good look at yourself in the mirror. What do you see? Do you seem likeable? Now I'm not saying that you should judge yourself based on your looks, but whether we like it or not, most people make assumptions based on what they can see. And I'm not just talking about grooming and attire. It's also your demeanor, your disposition, the way you carry yourself, the way you look at people, the way you talk and walk, the "vibes" you give out. If you think you have a rather severe face, for example, perhaps you could make an extra effort to smile more.

Next is the principle of treating others as you would like to be treated. We all want others to be friendly to us, to be accommodating and understanding, to treat us with dignity and respect. But do we treat others the same way? If you expect a colleague to be willing to cover your shift with a smile when you really need to be on leave, then you should be cultivating goodwill with him on a regular basis. Do you invite him out to lunch, for example? Do you make small talk with him or do you only engage in conversation about work-based topics?

We can clearly imagine how much tougher our lives would be if the people around us stopped being supportive and accommodating. But most of us tend to take them for granted. The people around you may be all friendly and smiley today, but when you're next in need of their help, will they be offering it with a smile? Cultivate an attitude of being someone likeable, someone polite, generous, caring, and giving, and when you're next in need of some support, you'll probably get it more spontaneously.