Friendships

Close relationships can begin in childhood. If lucky those friendships can last through one’s lifetime. Those soul connections that seem to mystify time where two people or a group can pick up where they left off without missing beat traversing the day to day living and life changes that happens. Like a song you remember that instantly accompanies a flood of memories. Connection. The knowing. A place of peaceful rest and joy in having someone who deeply knows who you are and accepts you. They can be a saving grace in times of trouble or uncertainty. A touch stone.?Those relationships that make us better human beings in the work place.

I have observed my son and his friends whom have mostly known each since being 3 years of age.?Now in their twenties having gone to different colleges and Universities they gather together around a fire pit or on my back deck to laugh and talk about what’s going for them. They check in with each other. And for those that might not be present in that instance they ask each other about them with the utmost care. In conversations they share their difficulties and next steps along life's winding path.?They share a connection to who each is as a real person. They know when one or more might be dating someone who doesn’t align. They support the process of each in finding more peaceful and meaningful dating companions.?But their top priority is supporting each other's dreams.

Some friendships are meant for periods of our lives and then they transition into just memories as people move on from a shared path for however long the convergence is meant to be. Others are for longer periods of time lasting years through life. While going through raising children, a kinship amongst neighbors helping one another manage day to day while having a connection for relating. Or those that accompany us through life transitions of accomplishments and aging.?Friendships can be generational.

Even marriages based on friendship far out lasting those formed on lesser intimate bonds. Obligation is not the same as a true friendship-partnership bond. A true friendship is the acceptance of who we are even in our weakest or darkest moments knowing that the true compass of the heart will lead us to our own truths without damage to the other, our friend and the connection. Trust and respect being the cornerstones of those relationships, a true form of intimacy.

There are other forms of friendship and loyalty, those of the animal kingdom. Anyone that has a deep commitment to animal relationship knows this to be true. The saying "man's best friend" is the description often used to referring to a canine companion. Relationships come in all shapes and sizes, some are with wet noses and a snuggle when you need it most. Whatever your type of key friendship you experience, no doubt it makes life richer.

It is possible to have a friendship with an art form or activity that brings connection and joy. Many artists can attest to their relationship or friendship to their chosen means of creative expression. In interviews with musician many have said that music has been their constant friend throughout life. It's the place where they feel most comfortable expressing love and being themselves as a true individual. They can dependent on their art to bring solace.

In some friendships businesses are built as there is a reliance known to the participants that can share the common goals and function within the roles necessary. While circumstances can pressure those friendships much as in a marriage, if true communications and commitment are present they can sustain through adaptability.?

Friendships build a sense of community, a sense of belonging. They can be formed around shared beliefs or shared experiences. The best are formed from a connection of the heart that is instinctual. Our beliefs and knowledge change as we grow, making those long lasting even more valuable. What you believe when you are ten or twenty will certain change by the time you are fifty and so on. Sometimes changing beliefs and direction end friendships when it becomes an experience of extremes~shaking the connection foundation to the core. The sense of loss from an ending friendship is a death, an absence or sense of abandonment, a time of unsettling questions. The place a friendship held that has gone is not easily filled.

Life is made better with true friendship. It signals we are not here alone, not suffering nor joyful all by ourselves.?We develop a language, an understanding, and check system that enables us to survive. It takes us from “me”, to “you” to “us” which encompasses the cycle of human emotional experience.?It is in the spontaneous moments of emotional connection that real friendship is evident. It’s in the laughter, the joking around and safe place for revealing ourselves that human relationship is the most beautiful.?It’s in saying I am not perfect but I am perfectly who I am and knowing the other person gets it and feels the same. It’s in the embrace, connection and open heart of just being. That’s friendship to me~ cultivating and nurturing it make for healthier and happier human beings.