energising friends!

Do you have a lot of good supporting friends who energise and uplift you?

Or are you surrounded by people who drain you?

The friendships you have can define your life – and such relationships can either enrich your life or make it a pain.

Over the years, my greatest joy and fulfilment has come from my friendships.

Many a time, I have been helped out by good friends who have seen me through thick and thin.

However, there have also been some “friends” who were far from being friends.

And we all seem to somehow create friendships which aren’t necessarily good for us.

For instance, have a good long hard look at the names in your contacts list and chances are that there are several that you no longer feel like calling.

Is it time you became ruthless and cleared from your life some clutter in the form of “friends”?

This is the fifth in my series of 28 relationship articles for the month of February, during which I am taking you through a journey of improving all the relationships in your life.

I am calling it the 28 Day Relationships Adventure (28 DRA)

You can check out the first 4 articles here:-

Day 1 – Become Aware of Your Relationships

Day 2 – Love Yourself First Before Loving Anyone Else

Day 3 – Love Yourself Without Becoming Full of Yourself

Day 4 – Love is all that matters

You can read all 28 articles which are listed at the bottom of this post.

Today I am turning the spotlight on what makes our friendships energising and worthwhile having.

Right upfront, I should clarify that I am not talking about the sort of “friends” we can get on social media platforms such as Facebook with the click of a button!

I do have just over 2,500 Facebook “friends” but of course in reality only a few of those are offline friends. Some of these friends have been through the social media connect button on my blog whilst quite a few are people whom I have met over the years at school, college and workplaces.

I’ll be writing a separate article about social media friends, but today’s emphasise is about friends in the traditional sense.

True friends are the ones who like you, make you feel good, and accept you as you are. They are the people you laugh with and who stick by you through thick and thin.

However, we all spend so much of our precious time with people who no longer do anything for us.

Begin to Let Go of So Called Friendships From Today

Ask yourself – would you prefer to spend more time with the people you love – your partner, children, close family and a few really good friends – or would you rather lose hours with people who just happened to have drifted into your life.

You can’t be loyal and be there for all your real friends if you try to keep absolutely everyone happy!

Also, know that you are not being unkind either by letting go of friends – you are doing them a favour too.

Ask yourself:-

Does this person share my values?
What am I getting out of this friendship?
Do they lift my energy?
Do I love being in their company?

Letting go of unwanted friendships can be a gentle process – and usually both parties know when it’s time to move on.

Of course, you shouldn’t resort to playground tactics and tell a friend that you no longer want to be friends! But then again, maybe you should.

At the same time, maintain and nurture the true friendships in your life so that they uplift, support and energise you.

Here are some simple tips to do just that:-

1. Accept Your Real Friends Just the Way They Are

Recognise their special qualities and also appreciate their little idiosyncrasies, since it is these which make them unique.

Accept them for what they are, without judgement and wanting to make them change.

friends come in all shapes and sizes

2. Be Honest with Them

Communicate your feelings, ideas, wants and what makes you happy or unhappy with each other.

Create a space between you whereby you can have a flow of honest feelings and questions, knowing that it is safe to do so. Be confident in each other’s capacity to be told the truth and willingness to forgive as and when necessary.

If you do want to make any helpful suggestions, check first if your suggestions are valid and relevant.

How will speaking your truth impact your friendship?

3. Listen to Them

You will then know what makes them happy, sad, and mad or simply what is happening in their lives.

Conversely, open up and let them listen to you. How else will they get to know you and what makes you happy, sad, or mad?

4. Be Assertive and Make Clear your Preferences

Get clear about what types of activities you like and don’t like doing. There is no point in you tagging along and feeling resentful all evening.

If you need to, do things on your own – and of course without becoming a recluse!

5. Be Reliable

Don’t let your friends down at the last minute. Do keep to arrangements that have been made. After all, they might have refused activities with others because of your prior arrangement.

Begin to manage your time well and use a diary to avoid clashes. Otherwise, once you get to be seen as unreliable, friends will start to go elsewhere as they have other friends to see as well.

6. Remember Their Special Occasions

Send a card on your friend’s birthday and remember their special Occasions. Perhaps even initiate a celebratory outing.

Conversely, also acknowledge other events such as illness by visiting or sending flowers and get well cards.

7. Remain in Regular Contact

Don’t drop your friends just because the “latest” boy or girl friend has come onto the scene. Well cultivated friendships will usually last far longer than that boy or girl friend.

Make time for your friends and when you are ready, introduce your partner to them so that you can all do activities together.

8. Give Them Space

Don’t email them or be on the phone every day pestering to see them! Respect their space and right to see others. They will respect you more if you are seen to have a life of your own, away from them.

Of course the regularity of your contact and meetings with friends will depend on the closeness of your friendship. Judge the pace and decide how often you should be in contact.

9. Give as Well as You Take

Don’t just contact your friends only when you “want” something. People will soon catch on and discard you as a friend. Always remember the favours done for you, and return them.

Be there for your friends in the same way as they were there for you during your hard times.

After all, a friend in need is a friend indeed.

friendly cats

Please share below your tips for creating and sustaining energising friendships.

Daily Exercise for Today

1. Do something today for a close friend to let them know how much they mean to you. If nothing else, call them and have heart felt conversation.

2. Review any interactions with friends over the last 7 days which were not energising.  Reflect on what you can do differently next time?

28 Day Relationship Adventure

Postscript – Here are the complete 28 articles in this series from February 2011.

Please do check them all out:-)

1 – Become Aware of Your Relationships

2 – Love Yourself First Before Loving Anyone Else

3 – Love Yourself Without Becoming Full of Yourself

4 – Love is all that Matters

5 – 9 Simple Tips To Create Energising Relationships

6 – Why Decluttering your Friends is Good for You and Them

7 – Stop Bending over Backwards for Other People!

8 – Be Special to Find the Special One

9 – 10 Key Secrets for Becoming Likeable

10 – Don’t Fall in Love – Create Love

11 – Do you Believe in Soulmates?

12 – Open Your Heart and Find the Special One

13 – Create your ideal Valentine’s Day

14 – Make it a Fun Valentine’s Day Everyday!

15 – Make Your Relationship Even More Special

16 – Learn to Love Unconditionally

17 – 11 Keys to Improve ALL Your Relationships

18 – Why the Human Touch is Key

19 – How NOT to Make Friends!

20 – Share Your Love with Your Loved Ones Everyday

21 – Stop Judging, Start Loving

22 – Simple Trick to Instantly Improve All Your Relationships

23 – Why No One Is Ever An Ugly Duckling!

24 – Why World Compassion Begins With You

25 – Why Teamwork Always Begins with YOU

26 – How to Let People Go From Your Life

27 – Thank the Divine Every Day

28 – Stop Being An Approval Seeking Machine

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