If You Can Answer Yes To These 4 Questions, Your Friendship Might Be Fake
Thomas Aquinas once said: there is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.
Kaboompics.com | Canva You love your friend, right? They are the peanut butter to your jelly, the fork to your spoon, and the thread in your needle. But do they feel the same way about you?
How do you distinguish your real friends from your "friends," the ones who only hit you up when they need you for something but are never there when you need them?
If you can answer yes to these questions, your friendship is fake:
1. Does your friend say one thing and do another?
Love is as much a feeling as it is an action, and when friends love one another, they act. It's more than just talk.
They follow up what they say with actions. They never say one thing and do another.
2. Is your friend too busy for you?
A friend isn't someone who finds time for you — they make time for you. Even when they become busy, they'll take time out of their lives to spend it with you doing things you love doing.
There's no such thing as a true friend who you never see because "they just got so busy."
Couples counselor Larry Michel explains the balance friends have, "They prioritize quality over quantity when it comes to friendships and relationships. Rather than seeking superficial connections, they invest time and energy in building genuine and meaningful relationships.
They value quality intimacy with depth and connection over popularity."
"They know people only do the best they can with the emotional and physical resources they have at any given point in time. Therefore, they are rarely quick to conclude and look to understand before being understood," Michel continued.
3. Do you hide your authentic self around them?
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Your real friends won't ever ask you to be anything but your true self.
They love you and they don't want to control you, as suggested by a study of support and psychological control within close friendships in The Personality and Individual Differences Journal.
They don't even feel like they have to permit you; they just let you be you.
4. Do they hold you back from being a better person?
They're going to be there for you in the worst of times, but they also want to see you learn from it and grow as a person.
They're not afraid to call you on your self-defeating behavior, but they'll support you as you develop anyway.
Life coach Ed Latimore explained, "In my life, I've been friends with people who never had anything positive to contribute. I was either the subject of criticism or the butt of a joke or I was continually disrespected.
I stayed friends with these people out of convenience and familiarity, but it's not something that anyone should ever tolerate.
Latimore continues, "Our environments are a product of our mindset as much as our mindset is a product of our actions.
If you want to be better, you must eliminate the negative, destructive influences around you."
Higher Perspective seeks to bring together like-minded individuals focused on personal growth and expanding their consciousness. We can be better to our planet, better to our brothers and sisters, and better to ourselves.