Relationships are enormously difficult aren't they? Whether they are with your partner, your neighbour, your family or your dog sometimes they are just ridiculously hard. Why are they like that? Shouldn't like-minded individuals be content to be together? Because...and yes and no. The point is that there is no simple way to get along when people are involved. Whether it is our genetic make-up, our baggage or our mood that particular day, there are just so many variables that it is not easy for everything to be smooth every minute. And unfortunately for us all, it is so comfortable to judge, to be hard on each other because sometimes being that way means that we are just being ourselves. Or so we say.
I love the old gem, "Treat your family like friends and your friends like family." It seems to me that I find it quite effortless to say things to my immediate family that I would never say to friends. They would think me rude! On the other hand, I do find it easier to extend the comforts of family to close friends. For me, it is much harder to treat my relatives as if they were my friends. There is something to be said for being your real authentic self with the folks you live with but what becomes of our manners, our kindness, our compassion for those closest to us....
How do we find a way to treat the folks we highly value and live with, with the same affection and respect that we give the people we value and don't live with every day of our life? "Familiarity breeds contempt." wrote Aesop. Does it or is it just that our family members see us at our lowest--- when we are tired, hungry, bored, frustrated, lonely and sometimes despairing.
What is a friend? In the age of Facebook, it seems that friends are something that many of us have hundreds of. Real friendship is the family that we choose, rather than the one we are born into. I am blessed to have a wonderful family and stellar friends. What more could anyone ask for?
I love the old gem, "Treat your family like friends and your friends like family." It seems to me that I find it quite effortless to say things to my immediate family that I would never say to friends. They would think me rude! On the other hand, I do find it easier to extend the comforts of family to close friends. For me, it is much harder to treat my relatives as if they were my friends. There is something to be said for being your real authentic self with the folks you live with but what becomes of our manners, our kindness, our compassion for those closest to us....
How do we find a way to treat the folks we highly value and live with, with the same affection and respect that we give the people we value and don't live with every day of our life? "Familiarity breeds contempt." wrote Aesop. Does it or is it just that our family members see us at our lowest--- when we are tired, hungry, bored, frustrated, lonely and sometimes despairing.
What is a friend? In the age of Facebook, it seems that friends are something that many of us have hundreds of. Real friendship is the family that we choose, rather than the one we are born into. I am blessed to have a wonderful family and stellar friends. What more could anyone ask for?
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