Am told that 49 million people watch Oprah everyday. While not shy to share her opinion on lotions and her favorite cupcake, she has shyed away from outing her feelings on political candidates. So now that she has openly said her pick for the next president is Barack Obama - that is an endorsement of immense proportions. Then you have Jerry Farwell declaring Hillary Clinton as being the devil, incarnate. Pretty strong feelings, both ways. Both have sphreres of influence and obviously, not afraid to use them.
We all use our influence and sometimes, we do with with less than stellar motives. We want someone to think better or us someone else. Sometimes we want other to think less of someone. We purposefully use our influence - whether to sway to or from. I am guilty of both. After finding my new found faith - coming out of my atheist fog, I declared to my in-laws that they were going to hell because their beliefs didn't match my new-found ideology. With all my heart, I thought I was saving them by sharing my knowledge and that they were going to be overwhemingly grateful, when they recovered from the shock.
How would my life look if I had the ear of 49 million people? The power to influence that many people would be powerful. I can tell you there would be alot of digi scrappers cropping to the beat of Jesus. Standing in line at Walmart this week, the 30-something girl in front of me had a grocery cart full of Halloween decorations and 2 handfuls of Halloween scrapbooking supplies. I couldn't help myself - I whipped out my 4 x 4 album of my digi layouts and influenced her to Google when she got home. She had that Look - she was hooked and I polished my good girl badge.
Influence works best when we aren't aware. When we do it by attraction not deflecting. People are watching us constantly. It really is about who we are not what we said. Use it, don't abuse it ...
