Take your time, asses the kind of friends that surround you!

Have you ever wondered what makes a good friendship?

Let us begin by asking, what is friendship? The Oxford Dictionary defines friendship as a relationship of mutual affection between two or more people. Friendship is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an association. A World Happiness Database study found that people with close friendships are happier according to BBC News, 1^st July 2012.

Friends could be made from complete strangers who later become best of buddies, family members ought to be great friends first if their bond is sought to be a strong one, and so is in marriage. Love starts from somewhere and that place is none other than from a friend zone (A topic for another day!).

(Photo Courtesy: UnderTheInfluence Group)

Although there are many types of friendship, certain characteristics are present in many types of friendship. These include affection, sympathy, honesty and trust, mutual understanding and compassion and pleasure of each other's company. Being yourself, being able to express one's feelings and being at fault without fear of judgment from the friend is another thing we all would die for in a friendship.

 

All the above characteristics cannot work without the other. They are all exercised with equal measure if the friendship is to be called true. Affection in friendship requires that we feel loved and some sort of fondness, warmth and liking when in a friend’s company. An affectionate friend will be slow to judge you, be the first to sympathize with you in an event where you need a shoulder to learn on and an ear to listen to you.

Other than relishing each other’s company, where you can freely express your opinions and feelings freely without that fear of judgment, the most exceptional characteristic in any form of friendship is honesty.

A true friend is the one who
walks in when others walk out.

- Walter Winchell

An honest friend will make you better, build you and be a part of what made you the next big thing. It could be that person or those people you call your friends that will bring you down, lie to you so you can just be friends or even be your enemies bait, the destructor, the ‘Delilah’ who are there to suck your energy dry!

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” and “The godly give good advice to their friends; the wicked lead them astray.”

(Proverbs 27:17 and Proverbs 12:26)

If your friend(s) do(es) not possess these qualities, most important of all being honesty and trust, beware of the people you associate yourself with! It is time to analyze and be sure of those that you call friends!

Take your time, think about it!