In my experience, the right people always appear when you need them. I don’t mean to say that these people will be your best friends, or that they’ll even be nice to you, they might not even give you the time of day. But, everyone who comes into your life is a lesson. They teach you more about yourself, how you react, how you feel on topics and how to treat others.

For me, I noticed this when entering college. I didn’t know anyone going in, and I was afraid I wouldn’t make any friends. I felt alone and wondered if it was the right choice to go to a college away from home. When I just allowed things to happen, I started to see the people I needed float into my life. I saw things in a new light. I believe everyone has this magnetic ability to attract the people who you need. If you think positively and reach out, you find people who you can laugh to, talk to, and relate to. On the other hand, this can work negatively too. Whenever you’re in a bad mood, it seems as if people react to that and it seems like the worst people are attracted to and you feel more isolated. No matter who you attract and who you encounter, it’s important to remember that they are there so that you can learn a lesson. If someone bumps into you, maybe it’s telling you to pay attention. If someone spills something on you, maybe it’s a chance to show compassion and let them know it’s okay. If you see people as a chance to grow yourself and your connections, then you realize the things that annoyed you don’t both you as much anymore.

The thing is, we don’t consciously think about our encounters with other people. Most people don’t take a second look at the people who serve us our food, or who walk past us on the street. As well, we learn to hate people who have done us harm or are against what we stand for. What good does that do for us as people? Hate divides us and slowly poisons how we see the world. Things happen, people hurt us, but that shouldn’t define us. When something happens, we have to get up and grow. If we don’t grow from our experiences, we will continue to be trapped and controlled by what happened to us.

It’s important for us to learn from each other and reach out. If we all became magnets to each other and expanded our experiences, we could all learn so much. We could learn to tolerate each other, we could learn how to deal with conflict in a peaceful way, and we could grow together as people. It’s important to remember, that even though we all have this ability to connect, we often don’t use it. It’s up to each of us to start reaching out and become the magnets of the world.