Avoidance is human nature and it can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what and who we avoid, and why.  
    If we are avoiding things we should be doing so we can watch a favorite television show, that is a case of negative avoiding.  If we do our work slowly to avoid having the boss give us more work, that is (usually) a negative kind of avoiding.  
    On the positive side, if we are avoiding an old friend because he has become a drug pusher, that is a good use of avoidance.  If you are avoiding an old boyfriend because he gets jealous and violent, that is positive avoidance.
    When it come to matters of spiritual development, avoidance can help or hinder there as well.  
    When you know that you should get stated with developing your spiritual side, or move up to the next level of development, avoiding it by always finding reasons to put it off for the future is negative avoidance.  Avoiding spiritual friends who will push yo to stop that avoidance is another.
    On the positive side, avoiding taking a job that might pay better than the one you have, but would require you to work seventy or eighty hours a week leaving you no time for other things including spiritual development is positive avoidance.  Also avoiding overly materialistic people would be a positive thing.  Not that you need to avoid such people all together, just don't be with them a lot.  As I've mentioned before, being around very materialistic or very negative people can actually sap your spiritual energy, slowing down your progress.