Knowing Your Circle of Friends

Friends are a special gift we receive in life. Good friends can help us feel more confident about ourselves, give us strength when we fall, help us out financially and can give us more opportunities when we need it. Good friends are there for us. Not all friends are good friends. Know your friends so that you know your strengths.

Know what skills your friends have. Some of your friends are great people to confide in because they will listen intently, offer advice and never repeat what you say to them. Other friends blab their mouth to anyone who will listen. Before you tell someone something sensitive about yourself consider their ability to keep their mouth shut. Your credibility can be damaged by people who talk about your personal life.

If you truly want to know who your friends are listen to how they talk about you. A good friend will raise your stature by saying good things about you while bad friends will damage you by saying negative things about you. Friends act as a social unit and those who are damaging your "good name" shouldn't be your friend anyway.

Many of us either know people or once knew people that were secretively jealous about us, our accomplishments and what we have going on in our lives. They may make small comments to us that smack of underlining resentment or they may continue to joke about our shortcomings. These types of friends are with you for convenience but are damaging your self-esteem. Each time you feel good about yourself they are there to tear you down.

Good friends don't forget about you. They stay in touch and want to visit you when they can. That doesn't mean they don't have lives of their own or that they are not busy but that they attempt to stay in contact. That doesn't mean you don't have the responsibility of staying in touch with them either.

Friendship is based on trust. If you don't know which one of your friends you can trust then you don't know your friends. For example, if your significant other and your friend had to drive together across the country would you trust them? If you would trust your friend not to violate your confidence then you have a good friendship. If they are the type who would take what you have the first chance they get then you shouldn't bother developing something with them.

Friends are important because they support you in life and encourage you when you are feeling down about yourself. They won't talk bad about you to others, even when they are mad, and they will help you when you need it. Develop tight friendships so that you can move ahead in your dreams and clear out your bad friends from time to time. Bad friends are not worth their time or energy you invest in them.