Keeping a Strong Circle of Friends


Friendships are an important part of our lives. They make us feel good, give us hope and inspiration. Friends comfort us in times of stress. We look to other people for encouragement and as a source of happiness. They can be part of a support system that can get us through the rough spots in our existence.
However, what happens when some of our friends become a cause of our stress? When they do not seem to have our best interests in mind? There are times where our friends are not friends.
Humanity always had a tendency to put self-interest before the welfare of others. But not everyone acts that way. The challenge in our years is to sort out friends that are healthy to our own being. To maintain relationships that will promote your well-being and contentment. There comes a time to discard those friends who are negative or even hostile.
There are people who take advantage of the boundaries of friendship. They treat each other poorly, without care for any consequences. As an example, consider people who act differently when they are in different situations. Another type is the gossip who always talks bad about others, undercutting everyone he or she knows. In addition to these so-called ‘friends,’ there are those who manipulate others. All of these actions are done under the umbrella of friendship.
These are the types of relationships that could be described as toxic. It is important to be aware of these tainted ‘friendships’ and do what is needed to get rid of them. For your benefit, they are not healthy.
You should always be watching out for any warning signs that your friends might not be the best fit for you. Do you find yourself feeling like some of your friends take more than they give? Is there a feeling they are not supportive when you need an emotional lift? One-sided relationships do not allow for personal growth, which can promote the positive characteristics in a person.
Finding yourself around people who care more about their own welfare than yours makes life a struggle. Life is too short to waste energy in maintaining relationships that make you uncomfortable. The hardest thing is to identify these difficult people and get them out of your inner circle.
What do you do when you realize that it is time to get rid of these unproductive relationships? It is not easy to break it off with people, even under the worst conditions. But it is something that needs to be done. Be upfront and do not be afraid. If you encounter any hostility or aggression, then it is a clear signal that you are making the right decision.
The scaling back of your group of friends will mean that there will be fewer people in your life, and that can be difficult to deal with. Remember, it is better to have a small circle of positive friends than a large group of acquaintances that give you unhappiness.
Do not worry—you will survive. Remind yourself that you are able to enjoy your own company. Treat yourself well. Take yourself out for a cup of coffee. Enjoy your life. With time, you will be able to make friends who will enrich your life. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO LET GO OF THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE.

There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year's course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.

Epicurus: Why should I fear death? If I am, death is not. If death is, I am not. Why should I fear that which can only exist when I do not?

Bessie Stanley
To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Alex Noble: If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day.

Edgar Watson Howe: When a friend is in trouble, don't annoy him by asking if there is anything you can do. Think up something appropriate and do it.

Eleanor Roosevelt: Friendship with oneself is all important because without it one cannot be friends with anybody else in the world.

George Eliot: What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

Marcel Proust: Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Martin Luther King, jr.: In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends

Samuel Johnson: Always set high value on spontaneous kindness. He whose inclination prompts him to cultivate your friendship of his own accord will love you more than one whom you have been at pains to attach to you.

Dante Aleghieri: The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who in time of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.

John Dewey: Conflict is the gadfly of thought. It stirs us to observation and memory. It instigates to invention. It shocks us out of sheep like passivity, and sets us at noting and contriving.

William Ellery Channing: Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage. The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict.

Forgiveness is the mental, and/or spiritual process of ceasing to feel resentment, indignation or anger against another person for a perceived offence. To forgive is not as easy as people think. Forgiveness is one of the most difficult things a person can do. Everyone says that forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive. It is easier for people to ask others to forgive another person when they will not be able to forgive the person if the shoe were on the other foot. Forgiveness comes from the heart of the person and a human being cannot control everything concerning his heart. You might even want to forgive but your heart will be unwilling. Your body might be willing but your spirit and heart will be completely against it. You can’t even truly forgive without forgetting and will you force yourself to forget? Do we as human beings decide what we remember and what we forget?? Sometimes your heart is simply being protective of your person and does not want a repeat of what wounded it in the 1st place. Fear is a major factor. When you are betrayed by someone, you now look at that person with some kind of fear.

I Embrace rather than endure life

USE ME DON’T LOSE ME

I have sampled life's experiences and have been able to deal successfully with the many issues that life has presented. I feel very fortunate and lucky, For that and more; I will make it my duty to improve the life of people in my village in everyway that I can.

I am confident but not arrogant as I am honest to myself and well aware of my limitations.

Hung Tzu Cheng: Warm weather fosters growth: cold weather destroys it. Thus a man with an unsympathetic temperament has a scant joy: but a man with a warm and friendly heart overflowing blessings, and his beneficence will extend to posterity.

Quotable Quotes
Abraham Lincoln: When I do well, I feel good; when I do badly, I feel bad. That's my religion.
Blaise Pascal: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.

Mark Twain: Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.

Robert A. Heinlein: One man's religion is another man's belly laugh.

Robert A. Heinlein: The most ridiculous concept ever perpetrated by H. Sapiens is that the Lord God of Creation, Shaper and Ruler of the Universes, wants the saccharine adoration of his creations, that he can be persuaded by their prayers, and becomes petulant if he does not receive this flattery. Yet this ridiculous notion, without one real shred of evidence to bolster it, has gone on to found one of the oldest, largest and least productive industries in history.

Robert A. Heinlein: Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other "sins" are invented nonsense.

Benjamin Whichcote: Among many the esteem of religion is profitable; the principles of it are troublesome.

Elbert Hubbard: Religions are many and diverse, but reason and goodness are one.

Theodore Dreiser: If I were personally to define religion I would say that it is a bandage that man has invented to protect a soul made bloody by circumstance.

Voltaire: If God did not exist it would be necessary for us to invent Him.