Friend-SHIP

From our "Relating in the New Earth" topic in our Winter Spiritual Journal, enjoy Angela Morris' take on friend relationships and how they can serve as vessels for evolution in our lives. Read on for some contemplation tips to reflect on your own friendship circle today.

If you’re Generation X or older, you probably remember hearing a parent or elder say to you when you were younger, “if you can say you had a few good friends, you did good.” Growing up when many tended to find themselves in groups surrounded by many friends, this advice may have felt unusual, unfounded or “old school.”

Fast forward to the current state of events. It’s easy to see in a world of highlight reels, content creators, influencers and materialism the superficial nature of the culture that has been reinforced upon us for some time. Throw in dating apps and you’ve got the relationship version of fast fashion. Sprinkle in television shows like Sex and the City (and many more) and you’ve got an image of friendship that portrays the others always available, lacking appropriate boundaries, and usually within a peer pressure-focused environment reinforcing behaviors that are not nourishing for the individual, nor the relationship.

In this world of superficiality and throw-away culture, people often view friendships like something that can be tossed in the bin and replaced with someone else, but that’s not a real relationship as much as it is a form of using another for personal gain in some way.