On People Who Influence Us

We meet many people through the course of our lives — how is it that some influence us so much more than others?

What is it about a situation, a shared experience, or a time in our lives that changes our readiness to be impacted, and the significance of the impact that certain people have on us?

Perhaps when we are experiencing periods of high or low emotional states we are more susceptible to impact. Maybe it’s the intensity of shared experience that more deeply etches the feelings we develop for significant people onto our consciousness.

Do we choose to let certain people impact us more than others? Or is there an element of randomness to it? Can we control the level of impact by managing the thoughts we allow ourselves to have about others?