Friends with Benefits
Did one of your close friends disappoint you? Did one just hung in there for as long as she or he needed you and then move on? Do you have a friend that feels like an old shoe, no matter how many new ones you get you keep returning to? Do you have a friend with whom you feel so comfortable you are willing to share your deepest, darkest secret and know that she or he will carry it to their grave? Do you have a coffee friend? You meet over coffee but never at home?
Friends come in all shapes, sizes and with different intentions. Our job is not to become attached to any of them so much that parting becomes a tumultuous affair. It means you were hanging on to the person and not the spirit of friendship. Friends are a dime a dozen you have to be open and willing to give them a chance to get close to you and to know you and you them.
People are sent in our lives for a purpose. Each encounter with another pilgrim on this journey is a teacher. With each encounter you get to learn a different lesson. Of course if you are a slow learner then you get the same over and over again until you get it. When the lesson is learned they move on.
Some of our friends are there and we know that they are there for the long haul. They become part of you and you of them. The lesson may be one that lasts a lifetime and so they show up. Even if you are separated from them physically for periods of time, as soon as you encounter them again at a different point in your journey, the recognition and closeness is there. It feels as if you were never apart. And you were not, because we are spiritual beings having a brief human experience to pick up some great tidbits that would come in handy as we journey in the spirit world and other worlds that await us. Time and space are illusions of the mind. That is why when we meet old friends we just pick up from where we had left off as if no time had passed at all.
Be happy when new teachers appear in your life. Remember they may not be there for you forever, be willing and open to sharing. And give them your blessing when they leave. It’s not about you. It’s about their purpose.
The secret to enjoying friends and friendships is to enjoy the time you shared with them and accumulate good feelings which becomes part of you and which you take with you as you experience your next encounter.
