Monday, February 7, 2011

Successful Friendships


Would you like to improve the quality of your friendships and if so, what steps could you take towards that goal? Don’t focus on changing the other person in order to improve your relationship with them because that’s impossible. 

We cannot control other people, places and things and we can only change our attitudes and ourselves. This is often enough to improve our interactions with others, but sometimes we simply evolve, some friends fall behind and then the only possible change is to end the relationship.

Emotional vampires are very capable of draining you of joy and depleting your energy reserves. The best thing you can do is avoid them, of course. We shouldn’t put our happiness in the hands of others, but we can surround ourselves with proactive, positive people who help us improve. Attitudes are contagious, so why not catch a positive one?

Friendships should be enriching. If every time you talk to a certain friend or acquaintance you feel you need to protect yourself and you end up in a bad mood or exhausted after the interaction, reevaluate the friendship.

It´s not a matter of doing away with all your friendships because they´re not perfect. In fact, few are, if any! But realize that your level of happiness usually reflects the quality of your best relationship. And if the best one is not so good, you’re probably not as happy as you deserve to be.

To see my latest book in Spanish, Volver a Empezar, (Starting over) on relationships, click here.

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