Five Best Friendship Rules to Live By
Is there room for more than one BFF in your life?
While some people prefer to have a #1 friend, Dr. Townsend says we need more than one best friend because each person brings a certain set of qualities to a relationship. Variety is the spice of life and BF should be a plural term.
What about best friends of the opposite sex?
Dr. Townsend says, exercise caution. Sharing feminine and masculine viewpoints helps balance us, grow us, and make us better people, but close opposite-sex relationships can bring fear and insecurity into our romantic relationships. If that’s the case, both people should spend time with the BF, so the other person feels safe, loved, and assured that everything is on the up and up.
What if your spouse or your sister is your BFF?
You might be limiting your own growth because you are operating in a closed system. And if your husband or wife is your best friend, you risk smothering them and your marriage. Dr. Townsend encourages connections outside the comfort zone of family.
Does Facebook make friendships better or worse?
Digital connection is essentially neutral in friendships, but it does have drawbacks. It acts is a magnifying glass, making good friendships seem better and negative issues larger than they are. It also lends to “Instantaneous Dependency,” where a person over-relies on external views, too afraid to trust their own.
What if you don’t have a BFF?
Look for 3 must-have elements, “the DNA of friendship”: knowing, liking, and presence. Knowing allows you to evaluate how deep the relationship will go. Next, are you drawn to each other? Liking serves as an anesthetic to get over rough patches. And third is time spent together. The more time you share, the better the relationship.
If you’d like to win your own copy of How to Be a Best Friend Forever: Making and Keeping Lifetime Relationships, you need to click through to my review on 5 Minutes for Mom and leave a comment. U.S. and Canadian addresses are eligible.
You can also earn extra chances by responding to one of these points in the comments here, and/or on What Friendship Means to Me over at my own blog. I’d love to hear your thoughts on friendship!
However, you must read the full review and comment over at 5 Minutes for Mom first to be eligible.
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[...] one nugget to think about and hopefully apply to your life (see a sneak preview at the excerpt Five Best Friendship Rules to Live By over at 5 Minutes for Books).Whether you know you need to strengthen your friendships or you feel [...]
Sounds like a good book and that many of us could benefit from too.
I could certainly use this book. I have always been the shy type so making friends has always been a challenge for me. I did manage to make it down the isle though.
Would love to win this book. Thank you for this giveaway.
Jeanne
I’d love to read the “How to Be a Best Friend Forever: Making and Keeping Lifetime Relationships”