How do you define ‘friendship?’

Are you a ‘great friend’ or a girlfriend who’d like to be a better friend? Do you have lots of friends, only a few or almost none?

Recently we conducted a survey among Girlfriendology girlfriends about what is going on in your lives and how we, as girlfriends, can make it better – how we can be a better friend to each other. We heard back from you a variety of responses on friendship – from you’re very thankful for your friends, to you wish you had more friends. You honestly shared that often friendships aren’t so easy to find, make and keep. And you trusted us with your challenges and worries about friends who weren’t there for you or with whom you’d lost that connection that you once treasured. You also confided that you do want to be a better friends, and that’s where we hope Girlfriendology can make the biggest impact.

So let’s look at Friendship. Study the meaning. Explore the core basis and see where we can learn and grow as ‘friends.’ Let’s take a lesson from Wikipedia on ways we can rebuild friendships, identify those loved people in our lives who bless us with their support and guidance, and let’s step up to the plate to be a better friend. Model friendship to our children. Be consciously aware and grateful. Be a friend.

Friendship: by Wikipedia

Friendship is a term used to denote co-operative and supportive behavior between two or more people. In this sense, the term connotes a relationship which involves mutual knowledge, esteem, and affection and respect along with a degree of rendering service to friends in times of need or crisis. Friends will welcome each other’s company and exhibit loyalty towards each other, often to the point of altruism. Their tastes will usually be similar and may converge, and they will share enjoyable activities. They will also engage in mutually helping behavior, such as exchange of advice and the sharing of hardship. A friend is someone who may often demonstrate reciprocating and reflective behaviors. Yet for many, friendship is nothing more than the trust that someone or something will not harm them.

Value that is found in friendships is often the result of a friend demonstrating the following on a consistent basis:

• the tendency to desire what is best for the other,
• sympathy and empathy,
• honesty, perhaps in situations where it may be difficult for others to speak the truth, especially in terms of pointing out the perceived faults of one’s counterpart
• mutual understanding.

Friendship – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

What’s your definition for friendship? How can you be a better friend?

Girlfriendology, the online community for women based on girlfriend inspiration, appreciation and celebration

Tags: friendship, relationships, Wikipedia

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Be a Better FRIEND. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.