Friendship

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle

…and the life of the candle will not be shortened.

Happiness never decreases by being shared.

The Buddha

 A difficult term to define…

Throughout our life we have many friends, people that we interact with perhaps briefly and then move on... perhaps to forget in a few years time.

Friends that we may make whilst working and again may lose as time goes on…

 And then there a Special friends! 

These are the ones that we connect with at a very deep spiritual level. The ones that we feel we may have ‘known before’ in a past life or past situation (which indeed we may have done)

These are the friends that we come to rely on for not just physical but also emotional and spiritual support… the ones that are part of our Spiritual Network.

I, and many other people believe that many of us come together through successive incarnations to help and support each other, and this is the category of friendship that I am speaking about here.

This is the friendship that is easy to recognize, because when we first meet... we feel as if we have known this person forever!  …. as if we are simply carrying on a friendship that was started in another time…. in another place.

These friendships are vitally important to our spiritual well-being, and we should take full advantage of them and accept them for what they are. A little bonus that is given to us in this lifetime by connecting us to something important from a distant past.

Sometimes we let our friendships slip, we're doing other things, we're busy with other situations and we simply forget to connect with our spiritual friends. When a friendship like this dissolves it can hurt almost as much as a relationship breaking up for both of the friends although it may not seem like that at the time.

In years to come there will be regrets and sadness at the loss of the support that could have been gained, and unfortunately once it is lost, the support can never be reconnected.. it seems as if we are given a chance to take advantage of something from far distant past, and if we do not accept that gift it vanishes!

Cherish your friends!  Make sure that you connect every now and again to see that they are happy and well. Don't have them after run after you all the time. Make sure it is an equal and two-way friendship in that you give as much as you take out, and ‘be there' when they really need you. Leave it too long, and they may move on to other friendships that will support them better.

Rejoice with your friends!  Be willing to take time to celebrate their successes and share their enthusiasm. No excuse is valid for not doing so! Nothing is more hurtful than having someone who is close to you and who should be able to support you through your joys as well as your sadness's, simply not being there…

Be honest with your friends!  Do not hide ‘indifference’ to their needs behind ‘too many commitments… too much work’… and all the other little excuses. If you don't have time at the moment tell them so, they will understand this better than indifference.

Be kind to your friends!  You may not always agree with everything that they do, but your influence will often help them in times of indecision.  A kind word can open the door to deep internal revelations!

And lastly…

Never judge your friends!  We are all human. We all make mistakes and we all regret it eventually!  As humans we thrive on encouragement and on forgiveness this is part of what it means to be a True Spiritual Friend.