To Be a Better Person

1. Listen

The ability to really listen to another is a cornerstone of good friendship. It helps you to understand your friend and his/her feelings, as well as shows that you really care. Don't you feel good when you have someone to whom you can say it all when you are having hard time in your life? Well, do the same for the one you consider your friend.

2. Be honest

A huge blessing in having a good friend is in his/her ability to notice things you can't, or don't want to see, but which must be dealt with in order to solve problems. It is important to do it in a supportive and gentle way, so it would be received well. It might be the pain of something that happened in the past and a person is held back by it because he/she never dealt with it. Sometimes is just to hard to face pain alone, so be a friend who would point such things out and face it with the friend you care very much about. You might also notice when he/she has a negative, false belief about self, then point that out and contribute to the improvement of his/her self-esteem.

3.Spend quality time with your friend

No relationship can be satisfying without quality time spend together. Make time for your friend, schedule get togethers. Don't you fell good when someone invites you out for coffee, movie, or for family dinner at his/her home? Then initiate such occasions to meet, don't always wait for the other person to do that.

4. Be faithful and trustworthy

Unfaithfulness destroys many friendships, you might be surprised that I used this term in the context of friendship. But wouldn't you feel betrayed if someone whom you considered a friend started to share your personal matters with other people? For sure you would, and so would I. You expect from a friend to be faithful in keeping your secrets to himself/herself and never to use what they know about you against you. You also wouldn't want him/her to take advantage of you in any way in the name of friendship, so make it your own policy to keep other's secrets, never use their weaknesses against them during possible conflict, or abuse their willingness to help.

5. Be forgiving

There is not even one person in the world who is perfect. You know your own shortcomings, so don't expect perfection from others. I'm not saying that you should always accept a wrong doing on your friend's part, but you shouldn't make to big of a deal out of their less destructive flaws. Tell them when you didn't like something and be always ready to make up afterward. Don't hold grudges in your heart. It will help your friend to be long-suffering with you as well.

6. Admit your faults

In every friendship there will be conflict sooner or later. When it comes, often the wrong is on both sides. Ask yourself whether you did anything wrong to contribute to this, it didn't have to be anything that you said, or did on purpose. Admit your wrongs instead of just pointing out the wrongs of another person involved. This will help you both to keep the line of communication open and strengthen your friendship.

To sum it up, the best way to maintain friendship is to keep the golden rule, "Do to others, as you would like them do to you."