Friendships for a lifetime

Have you ever noticed that when two waves come together their strength grows?

We also grow as individuals and are strengthened as we share life together. Friendship is a key element of our ability to feel as if we belong.

There are different “levels” of friendship each with varying feelings of connection. There is no science or even words that perfectly define friendships. However, categorizing them (whatever terms you want to use) does allow us to see the value of connecting with one another.

Community/Contact Friendships

Relationships of this nature are with people we meet because we frequent the same “stores, restaurants, businesses etc”. These types of friendships/relationships help us to feel the “familiar” in our communities as well as on a personal level.

Casual Friendships

Friendships develop often because of things we share in common with others. Our “interests, goals, shared tasks, being put together just “because” and even varied seasons of life” in essence throw us to together with others. These relationships can be easy to nurture because there is a shared common bond that keeps the relatability and communication more open.

Close Friends

These are people we allow to get to “know us” and be a part of our lives. These friendships/relationships involve a deeper level of care and concern. Close friends mean something to us. Support is also more likely to be mutual or at least recognizable. These types of friends also require a higher level of commitment. This type of relationship commitment can involves both emotional and physical support at least on a basic level.

Committed friends

These are long-term, sometimes, even lifetime friends. Friendships/relationships of this nature require investment and support that naturally occurs over time as life

continues to be shared. In these types of friendships the extra mile is also easily the “normal”, because the peoples and relationship is seen as valued. Committed friends are also the friends that do not just show up when it’s convenient or only beneficial, they are the friends who willingly engage and support because they want to. In essence these friends are part of the pillars that help us retain balance in our mental, emotional, and sometimes spiritual, and physical needs.

Just as we and our lives continue to change so do our friendships. When our commitment to others remains, our friendships thrive as we will continue to see the good/benefit of what it means to have and be a good friend.

To learn more visit the website http://www.RealLifeRelationships.org on the site you can also find more information about the book Love Forever and the self-guided course books Loving Others, Loving Yourself, and Reconciling Through Love.