Who you have surrounding you really impacts the quality of your life. Being mindful and conscious about your friendships can enrich your life or drain it. Are you choosing wisely?
Sometimes it may seem that the people around us are there by circumstance or chance. In some ways, that's true. But the way that energy operates, no one is in your life by chance. We all have an energy bubble around us that projects and communicates with Life and sends out a signal of sorts. This signal draws in people who resonate with it.
Are you being mindful about your friendships?
The amazing thing about relationships, no matter if they are immensely joyful or incredible challenging, they are ALL mirrors of what we need to know or learn about ourselves. Every single friendship is in your life for a reason.
How, when and whether you recognize the gift of the relationship and when the lesson is complete, is entirely up to you. How cool is that?
Choose your friends wisely
One way we can take stock of our friendship is to think about how we feel around people in our lives? Friends offer so many different experiences and supports. Some friends really enhance our lives, exposing us to ideas or experiences we absolutely love. Other friends test our boundaries and our patience, asking that we dig deeper into our inner self and knowing, so that we can create clarity and beneficial outcomes for everyone. Sometimes that beneficial outcome is to move along.
For many of us, learning to nurture and support our friendships in healthy ways is a life long process. We live in a culture where people are constantly moving and we tend to have more acquaintances than truly deep connections that stand the test of time and stress.
We also operate in different roles for our friends. What do your friends often say about you?Are you the friend they count on for advice? For fun and adventure? For safety or problem solving? Listen to the words they use to describe how they see you. Does it resonate with how you see yourself?
As we grow and change, so do our friendships. We are truly blessed if we have those friendships that are healthy and uplifting and also stand the test of time. And sometimes we need to say goodbye or set boundaries when there is an imbalance or the relationship is too draining. Saying good bye to a friendship that is no longer beneficial can be difficult, but ultimately it is deeply empowering. Learning to discern the difference is a vital part of gardening our lives and creating space for those who truly support and nurture us on the great journey of Life.