Friends

We all have friends. We all need friends. Friends we can laugh with, cry with, be silly with, fight with. It’s so nice to have a friend you can be yourself with, one who won’t judge you no matter what, who will accept you with your strengths and your weaknesses, who will always be there for you.

Friends are precious. That is why we need to take care of them. We need to value our friendships.

I found this book, Friendship Therapy by Kass P. Dotterweich and John D. Perry. Here are excerpts:

• Cultivate your friendship. In the soil of respect, drenched with the light of truth and the moisture of comparison, life will burst forth as a towering tree, abundant with the fruit of love.

• Allow your friendship the graceful freedom of a ship at sea. When the waves dash against you, when the strong winds fill your sails, when the stars guide you by night, you are partners at the helm. Your friendship can take you to distant and undreamed of shores.

• To be a good friend, value yourself. To treasure another’s essence in your heart, you must first treasure the precious essence that is you.

We are all worthy. God’s love has made us so. Know your worth as a person and giving importance to another will be the most natural thing. For you to give to another, you have to have it within you first.

• You don’t need to vow to be a friend forever, just say yes to the gift you are to each other and warm yourselves in the glow of the miracle.

• Accept your friend without being judgmental. It’s not that you don’t challenge each other. It’s just that you strive to know each other’s reality.

• Let your friend be weak or in need. A friend’s weakness is a gift that calls to your strength.

• Don’t fear the anger that is a natural part of friendship. Anger itself can be a friend telling you that something is wrong. Respond with openness and honesty.

• Say "no" to your friend when "no" is appropriate and gracefully accept your friends "no." Friendship is wide enough and deep enough to allow "no," "yes," "maybe," and "I don’t know."

Friends don’t always have to agree. Always try and accept each other’s point of view and understand why it is so.

• Respect each other’s boundaries as well as your friends. Not everything inside you needs exposing. Know what is yours to share and what is yours to hold quietly within.

There are lots of things, secrets we share with our friends, but also things we would like to keep to ourselves, and that’s okay.

Respect each other’s space and each other’s need for privacy.

• Be humble with your friend, you cannot be who your friend needs if you think you have all the answers.

Friendship is the cornerstone of life, the place where we can be ourselves and yet strive to be our best. Treasure your friendships.

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E-mail me at: babyjackster@yahoo.com