by Rebecca Thomas

Created on: September 21, 2009

Friendships are a wonderful thing! In my opinion, meaningful and satisfying friendships make the world a better place, whether it is between husband and wife, parent and child, between siblings, or between any two people. When I wake up in the morning, other than my work routine, all I can stop to think about is the friends I would meeting and the things we would be doing together.

The essence of friendship is made up of a few key ingredients that are given below:

- Appreciating who they are.

- Learning to give instead of get.

- Celebrating differences.

- Respecting and loving them.

- Spending quality time together.

Building friendships take time and effort on the part of both the people involved. It just does not happen over night. Spending quality time together to foster the friendship will go a long way in making it last. It is not an instant recipe that can be "cooked" up in a few minutes, but takes months and even years to make it last a lifetime.

A friendship is a wonderful way to build and develop character and also to help some one else develop theirs. Instead of getting into a friendship for the reason "what can I get out of it", the motive should be "what can I give to this friendship to make it better". I have a few close friends who would do just about anything for me. It's a wonderful feeling to know that they are there to cheer you on, to help you through the tough times, to give a shoulder to cry on, to laugh during the happy times, and also be there through the mundane things of life. Learning to laugh together is very important for a healthy friendship!

While building friendships, we need to appreciate the differences in personality that we have with the other person. Instead of trying to make them like us, we need to see life from their perspective also and learn from them. It's good when we can agree to disagree on issues, as long it's not an essential and important matter! Life is good because many kinds of people come into our lives and bring with them their past, their experiences, they personality and help to mould our present and our future.

As time goes by and life takes us on different paths, no matter how far a friend is, we always know that they are just a phone call away, and no distance is large enough to separate us from each other. Good friendships are indeed, a wonderful thing!

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