A recent long phone conversation with a best friend reminded me of why I value my friendships so highly. What sets this friendship apart? We laugh. A lot. We cheer each other up. We "get" each other. One of the key elements of this relationship is that we can be ourselves - no posing or concern about what the other thinks of us.. It's not news that friendships and healthy support systems are important to our well-being. But when I began to do research for this post, I Googled "relationships" and got mostly sites about romantic or intimate relationships. Magazines, advice columns and other popular media are loaded with information about these.
Why don't we place as much emphasis on our friendships?
In friendship warm talking about others in a positive way being honest and dependable doing your share of both the talking and Listening being respectful of the other person's feelings keeping yourself clean and well-groomed accepting your individual differences listening closely without interrupting being nonjudgmental giving the other person plenty of "space"...............As I mentioned above, a fundamental quality of my closest friendships is that I am free to be myself. We all need time and space to "let our hair down." The many life roles that I and others have to assume - husband, son , brother, chemist, artist, writer, neighbor, employee, etc. require different personas.
Many of our roles necessitate constantly meeting other people's needs, which can be exhausting.When do I have time for my friends?!" One of the advantages of our electronically- connected world is that you can maintain contact with friends via phone, e-mails, texting,facebook,,etc.Of course, it does take time and effort to grow and nourish these important connections, but the returns are immeasurable..
