Things Happy people do: They nurture strong, loving and healthy relationships
Being a natural introvert, the relationships in my life happen to be pretty strong in quality and pretty slim in quantity.
I do have a lot of ‘friends’ as in people that I know and interact with in a friendly manner and respect a lot but the number of people in my inner-circle are restricted to a select few and the relationships run really deep. These friendships are my lifelines.
These relationships have developed over time to become ones of mutual love, understanding, respect and trust. Trust on all levels, especially deep and unconditional trust, takes time to develop. I know that my friends have my back in any situation; this allows the friendship to be free of all masks, superficiality and subterfuge. I know that I do not need to be inauthentic in any way for them to love or accept me.
Happy people naturally gravitate towards people on the same path as themselves, those they can truly count on. Before initiating friendships at a deeper level, they seek to ensure that the relationship will be guided and bound by the same set of values and not simply superficial likes and dislikes. Their friends aren’t fair weather friends or sycophants telling them what they think they would want to hear. Real friends have no hesitation in being honest, raw and authentic. The friendship is not built on the fragile foundations of envy and jealousy but on mutual respect, honesty and trust. True friends show up for each other when life is challenging and they show up to celebrate the best moments in life together.
Happy people keenly nurture such true, deep and refreshing friendships, they are committed to maintaining relationships of depth. They carefully select those who they will spend their precious time and energy with and allow the frivolous and superficial acquaintances or relationships to move aside leaving quality time for those people who feed and nurture their soul on a reciprocal plane. We have all heard of toxic relationships and friendships where the feelings involved are usually negative and and harmful to our well-being. Any relationship should be of mutual benefit with a common purpose to equally serve the needs and interests of both parties involved.
The purpose of a friendship is to seek to understand each other, help each other through the tough times, share and celebrate the good times and generally lift one another up to become the best human being possible.
A friend is someone you can have a heart to heart conversation with, someone you can count on and someone who often knows parts of you better than you may know them, fully aware of your foibles and shortcomings, and without judgement or criticism, pushes you to always be better. A friend is ready to drop everything and be at your side if required; obviously this is a two-way street.
Think about the relationships in your life and see which ones match up to this definition. Think about where you yourself match up to this definition. If both cases are the same, then congratulations you have some great life lines going for you! If there are discrepancies then it’s time to take a good hard look at your friendships and relationships and strive to put them on an even keel. That’s the only way the ship floats and makes decent progress in the voyage of life.