Friday, 13 December 2019

Keeping Our Friends

How do we maintain a friendship? How do we keep our friends?

Acceptance. We have to accept our friends for who they are without wanting, or trying to change them. No one is perfect. If we wait for the perfect person to come along before we call him/her a ‘friend’, we will be friendless. Understand our friends for who they are, and accept them for who they are. This is also what being a friend means.

Give and take. Friendship is a two way process. There has to be give and take. We cannot drain the cup of friendship, taking all we can get without doing our share to help refill the cup.

Forgiveness. Once in a while there will be hiccups in the friendship. A misunderstanding, a word spoken out of turn when stressed, a comment dropped unintentionally, or a quarrel even. If we can’t forgive our friend these, we might as well not make any friends. Forgive your friends and move on. If they are true friends, they will be very grateful that you have forgiven them.

Keeping in touch. Keeping in touch with friends is so much easier these days. A call or a text message to ask after them, if you haven't heard from them for a while meant a lot to the friendship. Make it a point to catch up every once in a while, have meal, or a drink together - to keep abreast of each others news.

There are lifelong friends, and lifelong friendships, if only we were to put in a little effort, if only we were to play our part in keeping the friendship alive. Friendship takes time to build up. It is an ongoing process. It takes time, patience, understanding and acceptance of the individual.

Good friends are hard to come by. So, be sure to put in a little effort to cultivate a friendship if you come across anyone whom you think is worthy to be a friend. After all, it has been said that in a friendship, there is the magical warmth of the human heart that surpasses the power of medicine. When you have a friend, treasure the friendship.

It is important to our friends to believe that we are unreservedly frank with them, and important to the friendship that we are not. - Mignon McLaughlin

The best rule of friendship is to keep your heart a little softer than your head. - George Santayana

Suspicion is the cancer of friendship. - Francesco Petrarch

The friendships which last are those wherein each friend respects the other’s dignity to the point of not really wanting anything from him. - Cyril Connelly

Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. - Aristotle

Friends are like a beautiful garden. They require regular care, and friendship is a plant which must be often watered. - Unknown

Friendship requires great communication between friends. Otherwise, it can neither be born nor exist. - Saint Francis De Sales

Anyone can show up when you’re happy. But the ones who stay by your side when your heart falls apart, they are your true friends. - Brigitte Nicole

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