I'm doing it again... pointing you to a great post in another forum.
Hope you don't mind, Alan. (and Cheri..)

Alan Smith posted a Brian Tracy article in his forum. It starts like this...

Fully 85 percent of your success and happiness in life is going to be determined by the quality of the relationships that you develop in your personal and your business activities. The more people you know and who know you in a positive way, the more successful you will be and the faster you will move ahead. At virtually every turning point in your life, someone is standing there to either help you or hinder you....

This is such a hard lesson to learn, especially if you have been an 'enabler' all your life, as I have. Don't know why, but I pick up all the lame ducks and orphaned puppies that I encounter. Even now that I recognize the tendency, I just don't know how to stop doing it without being utterly compassionless. After weeks, months, sometimes even years of helping them out of jams over and over again, it is very difficult to come to the decision that it isn't really helping them to continue the relationship. And it definitely isn't helping me--I now feel like a ship that is being sunk by barnacles...

Thanks, Linda!

You are Awesome!

Alan

Hi Linda: I read Alan's forum, very interesting. If you go under a nice big tree, you'll get a nice big shadow. However, there are some differences between a person in need that you can help, a negative person who is always sick and complainning about everything and a person who tries to take advantage of you because you are a kind soul. We are attract people like us, as adult we know that every act or action has consequences. It 's up to every person to be involved in a relationship that is not good for you. This is not an easy task sometimes it takes years to get rid of it. Look at everything that's going on in your life from a different angle, take some time for yourself instead of giving yourself constantly to everybody around you.

Maria Sastre