It is possible to take your closest relationship and your best friends for granted. You pretend you are too busy or too tired or you don't need them because your family is enough
You find so many ways to deprive yourself. Thinking that your world is manageable when it's smaller is failing to see how big you were meant to be. Living without special people in your life is emotional suicide.
Your children need to witness you loving many people so they understand that there are many ways to love. Nurturing all of your loves requires a conscious effort. Do it becuase it's good for you; friends are good for you.
Do it because living mindfully is the death of taking life for granted.
365 Reasons to Love Who You Are from the book 'Kiss Your Life'
By:Ann Mody Lewis, Ph. D
Reason: 72 Page: 90
Commentary:
Seeking the ‘best’ of everything is the American Way! Throughout our lives we are chastised for not doing our best. So yearning for a ‘best friend’ doesn’t seem so unusual but life teaches us that it’s far more complicated than eating at the ‘best restaurant’, consulting with the ‘best doctor’ or getting the ‘best deal’ on a new car.
A ‘best friend’ is not found, they are made, as two people plunge into each other’s life! Couples who are ‘best friends’ are happier because they are emotionally satisfied. Parents who are ‘best friends’ with their children can influence them for a lifetime. A ‘best friend’ will teach us the sweetness of acceptance, forgiveness, loyalty and love. Not having to be ‘perfect’ makes being human much more fun.
‘Best friends’ are not only the ‘best’ for us; they draw the ‘best’ out of us. From the rocking horse to the rocking chair, friendship keeps teaching us about being human. Though friendship is sublime, the making of our ‘best friend’ is love-at-work. A writing by Parker J. Palmer in ‘The Active Life’ depicts the simplicity of being a ‘best friend’:
“In the midst of my depression I had friend who took a different tack. Every afternoon at around four o’clock he came to me, sat me in a chair, removed my shoes, and messaged my feet. He hardly said a word, but he was there, he was with me. He was a lifeline for me, a link to the human community and thus my own humanity. He had no need to ‘fix’ me. He knew the meaning of compassion.”
This month’s discussion will explore these topics:
Who is a ‘best friend?’
How do ‘best friends’ contribute to our happiness and emotional health?
What are the characteristics of a ‘best friend?’
Is ‘friendship’ luck or skill?
How does friendship ‘enrich’ the life of married couples?
Be your own ‘best friend’ by joining a conversation that could change your life on Facebook, Twitter or my Blog here.
