Niche River Articles

Are there Important Influences in Your Life?

By Charles Harmon

During our lifetimes we are exposed to a lot of things and a lot of people. It’s likely there are one, two or maybe even a few people who we have admired and thought of as someone we would like to be like or follow in their footsteps. Sometimes it’s their actions or manner while at other times it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about the person that fascinates you or demands your attention.

Do you remember a person in your life whose words made such an impact on you that something deep inside of you was altered? It doesn’t have to be a person who formally was your teacher or necessarily even close to you. It could have been a neighbor, a friend’s parent or a person from a nearby store that was a big influence on your life. Their effect on you may have been from a conversation, a series of talks or just their demeanor.

I remember once when I was about sixteen or seventeen our family went on one of the usual summer trips to a different state or Canada. I don’t remember much about the trip except one thing. We stopped in a suburb near Cleveland, Ohio at a relative none of us knew we had except my father, or possibly my mother. It was a nice big house all furnished nicely.

I don’t remember ever being in such a house before of anyone that was related to me. As it turned out the owner, who it seemed was an unknown cousin of ours, made his money from betting on horses. Not too noble an undertaking, but nonetheless that stuck in my mind and ever since I wanted to be a big-time gambler.

I’ll bet that was a large part of the reason I spent over twenty years trying to develop winning systems to play the thoroughbreds. It was difficult and I used high power computers, then PCs, but I sort-of was successful. I was able to wring out an awful lot of thousands of dollars from my betting and system research activities.

I stopped research and betting in the early 2000’s after I wrote a series of handicapping programs I have yet to publish or sell. A death in the family of my brother Warren Harmon who was the Internet and website expert halted our planned introduction of my software.

I pretty much abandoned my horseracing research and betting after that. Things kept changing and I got more interested in programming (I am a programmer) and also the most risky, in my opinion, financial trading – commodities or futures, and option trading. Even now, several decades later, I am still delving in the stock market. I even plan on getting much more involved with it very soon. Sometimes you just never know who will have a long-term influence on you.

Remember that you too can have a similar influence, either good or bad, on others and each of us is a model for others around us. Whether you think about it or not, people notice you at school, your professional setting or even in the grocery store and your bearing, posture and attitude is noted by them. How we carry ourselves is a teaching to people and it influences them. When you approach each day thinking, “today I’m teaching” you will find you act differently.

Being open to situations and people that are difficult is also a wonderful lesson. Each time we feel challenged by someone’s judgment or blunt remarks we can look inside and see what sensitivity they’ve hit inside of us. We tend to prefer gentle teachers, but sometimes someone’s sharp remarks are very good catalysts to change too. The main thing is to be open and keep in mind that people say things for various reasons.

Someone’s remarks may not be accurate because people can speak out of their own jealousy, irritation and past experiences. Nonetheless, people’s comments may contain a piece of truth and that can be something to reflect upon despite their projections or misperception. See if there is something in what someone says and if there is you can study it and if not you can forget about it.

What lessons have you learned from others? Often we learn something from a book or even a movie that changed you life. However, there is something special about having a dialogue with someone in person and the power of their words in the moment. In the east, they say to review every situation and person as a teacher and find the gem in the lesson that is right in front of your nose.

Always remember that to someone you might be the role model or the person someone might look up to. You need to carry yourself in such a way that is beneficial and puts you in a good light. It is especially important you make a good impression on very young children as they could take clues from you that could last a long time or even a lifetime.

Copyright © Charles Harmon

 

Charles is a software developer and owns several websites. Visit his Bird Quote site for interesting quotes. Charles is also interested in your candid opinion about a variety of topics.