Friendship is truly one of the best gifts we can give ourselves.
Great friends enrich our minds, inspire our imaginations, and
enlighten our spirits.
A chief event of life is the day in which we
have encountered
one of our best friends for the first time. To be sure,
friendship is a universal and all encompassing topic for each
and every one of us. Companionship is essential to a full and
rich life. It ranks right up there with fulfilling work and good
health. In fact, researchers have found that satisfying
friendships can improve our health. Contrarily, having no
intimate people in our lives will impoverish us and be
detrimental to our well-being.
Given how important friendship is in our lives, it's interesting
to note how little has been written on the subject. Compare, for
example, the number of books written on how to handle money
to the number of books on how to create and maintain great
friends. Yet in many ways friendship is much more valuable
than money. Indeed, our human interactions, particularly those
with close friends, provide most of the joys or disappointments
we receive from life.
As Portland resident Lenny Dee told an Utne Reader reporter,
"I have always thought you could invest your energies in
making money or making friends. And they achieve much the
same ends — security, new experiences, personal options,
travel, and so forth. I have always found it more fulfilling to
make friends."
Great friends will appear in your life when you are doing the
right things for them to appear. While it may appear accidental,
it's possible to dramatically increase the chances of meeting a
new friend or two — and keeping them as friends forever. This
is the really cool part: Once you understand the fundamental
elements of friendship, you may never have to be without any
true friends. Ever again!
