mirrors of the soul

“The depth of a friendship – how much it means to us… depends, at least in part, upon how many parts of ourselves a friend sees, shares and validates” – Lilian Rubin

Friends are not only there for us during the good times, but real friends stay with us through the bad and rough times of our lives. They are not only essential for coping with our day-to-day frustrations and heartaches or sharing private jokes, they help us go through a crisis, and help us grow as human beings. Friends tell us much of who we are - what we value in life, what we believe in, where we are in our lives and what we deem should be changed. Indeed, they are part of us as we are of them. They are in fact a mirror of who we are.

It is not to say that families don't have a great support system, they do, but one must realize that friends have a support systems uniquely their own.

Relationship among peers is extremely important among teenagers and young adults. They are just some things and issues that one can tell their friends and not their family. A bond among peers is extremely important as we need other people who can relate to what is happening in our life, we need them as models and models whose circumstances are closer to our own. We look at them as guide of who we once were, who we are and who we will become. We look at friends and their experiences and heed their advice, we learn from our mistakes as much as we learn from theirs, we look through experiences to start defining ourselves and how we value ourselves as human beings.

In life, one meets a lot of people... Some mere acquaintances, others friends for life. The degree of friendship one has depends on how much of us we are willing to share with them. Of how much we see in them. While it is sometimes true that opposites attract, it is more probable that people whose degree of similarity in characteristics, likes, belief and values are drawn closer. These pave the way for greater understanding and better bonding. The depth of friendship greatly depends on how much of yourself you are willing to share.

While there are friends what we might loose touch with through time and distance, we must be grateful for the memories that we have, the good and the bad times shared and the lessons we learned from them.