True Friendship: When Happiness & Gratitude Merge…
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust
True Friendship: Where Happiness & Gratitude Merge... trustworthy...
What does friendship mean to you? Are you a trustworthy friend? How do you know what a true friend is? Do you value your contributions to your friendships? Over the years, I have met many people and some have become friends. I suspect the same goes for you too. Yet, when we think about our friends, we know, deep in our hearts, that some of them are what we call “True Friends.” Others are friends but more on a casual level; not quite at that deep intimate, non-judgmental level. That is fine as we truly can’t have deep, intimate relationships with everyone… It is neither feasible nor necessary. What matters is that we have, at least, one trusted friend who adds to our happiness and makes us feel grateful for the connection.
“When you choose your friends, don’t be short-changed by choosing personality over character.” W. Somerset Maugham
True Friendship: Where Happiness & Gratitude Merge... Supportive ... Friendship by Picasso
When we think of our friendships, we often think about how they make us happy and support us in our struggles. Yet, there are friends who annoy us, push our buttons and give us endless grief. While I might say that those qualities are not the ideal recipe for true friendship, they serve a purpose. They remind us of what our friendships ought to truly look like. Sure, we want friends who are honest, kind, supportive, reliable, uplifting, sincere, trustworthy, have character and more. Yet, we want our closest friendships to have a tad more; something that distinguishes them from all our other friends… If we find ourselves thanking the universe for a friend, and having good, happy thoughts about them, we have found that special brand of friendship…
May you be blessed with friends who truly care,
Friends who are willing to take a dare,
Friends who don’t tell you only what you want to hear,
Friends who say a prayer when you’re filled with fear,
Friends who bless you and, in times of sadness, shed a tear
Friends who stick around and wave a flag to help you cheer…via EOF© More below 😉
“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.” Aristotle
True Friendship: Where Happiness & Gratitude Merge... shared history...
True friendship takes work; it takes time and effort to bond and develop a level of trust that makes each person in the relationship feel empowered and encouraged… and trusted too. Often, when we meet people who claim to have many friends, they don’t tell us what degree of trust or intimacy they have with each friend. It takes reflection, observation and reciprocity to develop an intuitive sense of where all our friends fit on our friendship meter. When we find that place in our hearts, where happiness merges with gratitude over particular friendships, we have found what we seek. Of course, we are happy for all our friends, but we understand the inner promptings that guide us to our true friendships…
May you be blessed with friends who truly care,
Friends who are willing to take a dare,
Friends who don’t tell you only what you want to hear,
Friends who say a prayer when you’re filled with fear,
Friends who bless you and, in times of sadness, shed a tear
Friends who stick around and wave a flag to help you cheer… via EOF©
What do you think? What are your thoughts? What does friendship mean to you? How did you meet your best friend? Do you have days when you’re not sure about some friendships? Do share! Thank you. 🙂
Positive Motivation Tip: Friendship is golden, treasure it…
Related articles
- Friendships (nanyamkaspeaks.wordpress.com)
- Friendship: What Is a Friend? (auroramorealist.wordpress.com)
- After All, What Are “Friends” For? (thenatural54.wordpress.com)
- What Is Friendship? (againstherbetterjudgement.wordpress.com)
- Sweet Friendships (nancycreative.wordpress.com)
- Friendship (sparklemezen.wordpress.com)
PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos three friends, via Wikipedia. friendship between enemies (Three kid friends) via Mayurht, Friendship by Picasso via Erwyn Van der Meer via Flickr.
Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet
Trackbacks
- Taking a Stand! « thebizarreworldofasupermarketgraduate
- Updates, Ideas and Gratitude « Inspired Every Moment
- Attitude of Gratitude – 11/10/11 | Elena's Inspirations
- Gratitude 102: Friendship « Perpetual Gratitude: A Photographic Diary
- Friendship: It’s In The Cards… | Mirth and Motivation
- Friendship: It’s In The Cards… | The Blog Farm
- Motivation Mondays: International Friendship Day | Mirth and Motivation
Throughout my life, I have had many kinds of friends. It is so sad when I get so caught up in day to day life that I let the friendships slack a bit. Luckily my best friends are understanding and will be there no matter what.
Our true/best friends do understand and we ought to show our appreciation for their friendship more frequently. It is a blessed gift to have a friend we can trust. TY! 🙂
Friendships are special and need nurturing just like any other relationships…
Yes, they are and they can be complex and unforgiving too… A true friend is the greatest gift… 🙂
If we hear the word FRIEND usually at first our memory delivers some faces of people we meet every week in our neighborhood. But using the internet another network of friends gathers step by step: those who understand also what we feel and think, what we avoid, what we long for. We should call them FRIENDS too! They also have found a door to our soul …
Exactly… there are distinctions to the word friend… We have degrees of friendships and how we measure or determine our true friendships… At the end of the day, we have to work at being a friend… TY! 🙂
i just sort of went ino this topic in my last post…friends are surely the frosting to life….
Yes they are the frosting to life and we all need even 1 solid, true friend… TY! 🙂
My friends are my extended family for me. I’m glad I have a couple of true friends who have been with me for more than half of my life.
Good for you! You are blessed to have family as part of your circle of friends. It is very important to have family members who value us as friends too. 🙂
Over time our dearest, most true friends become an extension of ourselves. When we look into their eyes and see their acceptance, love sings and joy reigns.
Yes, you are quite correct… our friendships carry us through life and become part of us. TY! 🙂
I suppose its posssible to exist without friends. But what a lonely existence that would be. I am thankful for all my friends. My longest friendship is a childhood friend and we share deep memories of one another’s families growing up, I count my sisters among my best friends. My other best friends (25 & 30 years) are from college and one of my first jobs. It does take work (but the most wonderful kind of work) to keep friendships strong and vibrant.
Friendship takes work and a forgiving spirit. …. Good for you to have stayed connected to many friends from your past. 🙂
You are so true friendship takes effort, time and even trials to test how strong it is. Friends makes us glow and be better persons. They make us smile no matter how grey the day is. They make us be the best in everything…. Including blogging. Have a blessed day my friends. Thanks for todays inspiration.
“They make us be the best in everything…. Including blogging. Have a blessed day my friends.”
The sentiments are mutual. Have a blessed day too!
Friends – when I asked my friends, as part of an exercise for my current schooling (honestly not fishing), to describe me in a few words the one that came up the most was loyal. I was truly humbled to discover that despite my misgivings on how good a friend I am, my friends think I’m doing a good job. Isn’t that what friends are for ? To put a mirror up to our souls and show us that we are far more than what we see. Thanks for this post – what a nice way to start the day !
You are doing a great job and it translates to the relationships you have with us; your fellow bloggers. Our true friends are precious pearls and they want us to succeed.
I’ve had an interesting year with a friend of mine. She became so negative about everything that I had to put serious distance between us. She lives very close, but I just couldn’t have the negativity in my day to day life any longer.
After several months of hardly any contact we sort of reconnected this summer. The distance was good for both of us. I think she understood why I had to pull away and I realized there was substance to the relationship aside from the negativity. We’ll see where it goes from here.
Thanks for this post.
b
I’m sorry to read about the strain… yet she has come back again. i think you should set ground rules and commit to it. 🙂 ONS TY!
Real friends feed our souls. They listen without judging, and accept us AS IS. And allow us to return the favor. 😀
Real friends are the icing on the tasty cup cake… They value our well-being. TY! 🙂
You know, several years ago, a woman I admired and trusted deeply asked me to befriend her sister because she was having a tough time. I invited the sister to lunch and listened while she vented about her husband’s and teenaged daughter’ fights. A week later, she took me to coffee and listened as I vented about my teenaged son garnering tickets, totaling a car, and losing his license, all in three weeks. We formed a deep and true friendship that even led to our husbands becoming friends, possibly in self-defense! She and I haven’t spoken for a month or so, which I didn’t realize until reading this post. Thank you so much! I’ll give her a call right now!
Isn’t that something? You both benefited from helping each other and your friendship grew from there. 🙂
My sisters are my best friends even when I’m mad at them.
Fabulous and bravo to you and the sibs. 🙂
A true friend will stick around in good times and in bad.
True friends don’t always see eye to eye but can speak their mind – and still remain friends.
That is correct… Honesty is vital to friendship. TY! 😉
I have LOTS of friends! But it’s gonna be hard for a human to be as true a friend as a dog is.
Lucky you … and I hope your friends remain true. TY! 🙂
I am so thankful for the few close friends I have been blessed with and for the friends I am making through blogging as well!
Ditto… I am very thankful for same. 🙂
I have been blessed with a few great friends, some have moved on into the great cosmic mystery. Others are still here… thankfully. Years are the best teacher of the value of friends!
Years are the best teacher of the value of friends! And we are all the richer for it. TY! 🙂
Friendships require work–work that I don’t mind. I have many, many friends: art friends, gardening friends, boot camp friends–see what I mean? But I only have a few Saturday friends. Great post!
I’ll be your Saturday friend for what it’s worth… 🙂 TY! 🙂
I have many friends.. But along the years I realized that my real best friends are my sisters.. We three are in different countries now, but though we are a great distance apart, we manage to keep each other updated and manage to encourage one another in stressful times..
Great reminder =)
That is terrific Vivienne. I’m close with my sisters and cherish them but I don’t think of them in that light…of best friendship. I love them and vise versa but it is all still in a business location. TY!
friends are anywhere. True friends are not anywhere. When we have at least 5 best friends, it means we are rich 🙂 (My husband who told me this)
Family is part of our best friends. Best friends will always be there when we need them.
Thank you for sharing this, Eliz. I love it 🙂
Yulia
Our best friends are like precious metal. We take them for granted but they are wonderful too to test out…
I’ve thought about friendship a lot in the last 7-8 months, following some very painful discussions with my siblings. I felt unmoored when we had some pretty serious arguments, but had a girlfriend walk me through all of that and reassure me of everything I needed reassured of.
I think, too, of my mom’s “friends”–women who wanted someone to put down to feel better about themselves. Thanks to those women, I’m better able to separate out good friends from friends of convenience. There will always be struggles, but they need to be within a framework of mutual love and respect.
There will always be problems but if all our friendships were based on respect and love, it would be a great march… TY! 🙂
I can count on one hand my True Friends…and I’m happy to have them.
Same here and we don’t need a room full of trusted friends to rejoice. TY! 🙂
Two of my best friends I met through mutual friends and in both instances neither of us is friends with the person who brought us together.
Isn’t that interesting? I have met a few people that way… but I’m sure of what became of the original person who introduced us. Friends do come in many ways. TY! 🙂