The cycle that leads to happy friendships is giving-receiving-growing, and so on. Here’s more of an explanation.
The Cycle Explained
- Giving comes from growing- Giving from our own experiences and our own learning is both meaningful and resourceful. Growing ourselves personally can lead to growing interpersonally and helping others too.
- Receiving with sincerity and gratefulness helps us grow. So if we are on the receiving end, it is important to be open to new points of view that we may not have considered and that are also helpful in some way. After this, we may be grateful that we learned a new point of view or had a new learning experience.
- Growing comes from receiving what other people and experiences have to offer us. We need to be like iron in some ways. Iron reacts quickly to the environment around it and we can react in a teachable way to new positive ideas that could shape our character. Iron transfers oxygen in the blood and helps in the nourishment of plants just as others can bring life and vitality to us and vice versa.
- The happiest individuals are those who are growing and the same applies to friendships. Stagnant friendships in theory could endure with acceptance coming from both individuals in regard to their position of growth. However, the friends who experience the giving-receiving-growing cycle together look forward to each new experience together as friends.
The Practical Breakdown
Here are a couple of practical suggestions to help build these kind of friendships:
- Listening is caring. Years ago I read a psychology survey taken about the most liked youth among their peers and one of the key characteristics was ability to listen. Not only do you learn more when you listen, but other people feel like they are being heard and are important.
- Openness and communication are the lifeblood of great friendships. Being willing and even eager to learn something new and beneficial to our own personal growth and having quality communication creates lifelong memories.
- Remembering and discovering those special moments. Whether It’s a milestone achievement, time of celebration, moment of tragedy or loss; these are the building blocks of living life together as true friends.
Summing It Up
The cycle that leads to happy friendships is giving-receiving-growing. Some keys to making this happen are listening, being open, communicating, and remembering and discovering those special moments in your friendship.
Application
Do you practice listening, being open, communicating, and remembering and discovering special moments? Which of these do you do well in and which of these do you need to improve in? Overall, have you experienced giving-receiving-growing cycle that leads to happy friendships?
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