MUTUAL FRIENDSHIP

This is personally my favorite type of friendship. The thing I like about this type of friendship is the fact that both parties are equally affected. Both parties either loose, gain or don’t loose or gain anything (be it positive or negative). Both parties either input something into the friendship or input nothing at all. There are three types of mutual friendships.
a) Positive mutual friendship (PMF)
b) Negative mutual friendship (NMF)
c) Passive mutual friendship (PaMF)
POSITIVE MUTUAL FRIENDSHIP (PMF)
In this type of friendship, you and your partner have positive things to impact on each other in other to make themselves better than they were before they met. In his type of friendship, quality time is spent between the friends. Quality time in which they discuss about making their future better, encourage themselves, ideas they have on changing the world and any other self developing topic. If you are in this type of friendship, I’ll advice you to hold on to that friend.S/he is a rare gem that needs to be treasured. The sad thing about such friendship is that it is very rare. The good thing about this friendship is that you will know that your friend is a true friend and you can vouch for him o anything. Hold on, you and your friend will change the world.
NEGATIVE MUTUAL FRIENDSHIP (NMF)
Well, this is the worst type of friendship. in this friendship, the two friends are parasites on each other. They are detrimental to each other. The funny thing about this relationship is that deep down in their hearts, the two friends know that they are not helping each other but are scared of leaving the friendship.Well,most times they do not know what they are in to that’s why they are scared of leaving the friendship. Let me use an analogy to describe this relationship. There is this substance called sweetene.It is a sweet substance but unknown to everyone, it’s a poison. If I call ten people that like sugary stuff to drink it, they would gladly do so but the moment I tell them its poison, they will probably kill me before they die. This is the same as the NMF.It is a slow killing poison. You might be enjoying all the bad things you and
your friend do together but it is surely detrimental to your life. Get out of it now!!!!!You could contact me on preecherson@gmail.com for advice.
PASSIVE MUTUAL FRIENDSHIP (PaMF)
I call this type of friendship a casual friendship. It is most common between children but for adults that participate in such relationship, it’s a waste of time. In this type of friendship, the two friends contribute nothing to making themselves either better or worse. This is a time wasting friendship. These types of friends just talk about anything. They ‘gist’ their time away. Most people that have mutual friends usually fall under such category (PMF). In fact, most best friends operate in this type of friendship. Unknown to them, they just while away time. The good thing about such friendship is that as the friends mature, they turn this friendship into a positive mutual friendship. Well, my advice for children that are in this friendship is that they should make sure they eventually become positive mutual friends but for adults, I want them to analyze the whole relationship and realize that they have three options; to change it, to leave it or to remain in it. I expect you will know the right thing to do.

MAINTAINING A FRIENDSHIP

Well, there is no special rule in maintaining a friendship because friendship amongst people isn’t the same and people are different so the best thing is to treat your friend according to their personality. Since the person is your friend, you are supposed to know his personality and how he likes to be treated. Treat him that way. This shouldn't be a problem since you are meant to be working in the best interest of your friend. If you are in a positive Commensal relationship, patience and perseverance are the keywords to maintaining such friendship. Sometimes your friend might be unwilling to change some of the bad things he has been doing for a long time.Do not get discouraged because he is unwilling to change; it is meant to motivate you to even change him. With much perseverance, you will succeed in changing him/her. Picture your friend as a baby that just fell from a stairs and hurt his leg. Would you beat the baby for limping???Take it easy with your friend, be patient, persevere and he will change.
If you are in a positive mutual friendship, you will automatically know how to keep your friend. Because you know how important your friend is, you will do all you can to keep him. The major thing that arises in such friendship is jealousy. One friend could start becoming jealous because the other friend is better in an aspect. To battle this, you have to come to terms with the fact that you cannot be the best in everything and it is a privilege to be the friend of someone who is the best in something. You also have to learn to love your friend selflessly. Put yourself in your friends’ shoes. How would you feel if your best friend is jealous and not happy about your achievements?
I personally don’t support any other type of friendship so I would not advice you to get into such friendship and so I definitely have no advice for maintaining such friendships. Friendship is an important aspect of your life; the friends you keep can either make or mar you. Take time to choose your friends and if you choose the right friends, you will have a very happy and wonderful life.

KNOWING A TRUE FRIEND

By now, you should know the type of friendship you’re in, therefore, you should know if you have a true friend or not. I’ll give you a few tips in knowing a true friend and I’ll also give you a special tip you wouldn’t see anywhere else. Your intuition should even be able to make you discern a true friend from an 'untrue, friend. Well here are the few tips I said I would give.

a) A true friend tells you the truth even if it hurts your feelings. Most times we expect our friends to say things that please us even if those things aren’t true. Anyone who says things just to please you whether it is true or not isn’t a true friend. They are probably your friends because you have something they need and once they get that stuff from you, don’t be surprised that you will become a dumped friend.

b) A true friend will assist you in becoming a better person. S/he will take interest in things concerning you so they can make you a better person.s/he will only do things that will be of benefit to you. When a true friend finds out that you are interested in something, s/he will try to pick up interest in such things so they can be of great help in making you achieve your dream. Nothing excites a true friend more than seeing you achieve your dreams.

c) A true friend spends quality time with you and doesn’t spend all day talking about the latest song and movie releases. A true friend will look for quality time to spend with you so that you can address issues regarding your friendship, future, environment and any other important issue.Im not saying that true friends don’t talk about movie releases. Of course they will, all I’m saying is that true friends would not spend all their time talking on such topics.

You would have probably come across the above tips in some books and articles. This is the only place you will get to see my special nugget. It is a simple principle. Without it friendship is worthless. My special tip to know a true friend is that your friend will spend quality time with you. Time is the only thing that when we give out, we cannot take back. When you spend time with someone, it means that you are giving the person a part of your life you aren’t going to take back from that person. This doesn’t mean that if someone spends time with you the person is your true friend. The fact is that we even spend time with people we even dislike. You can only know the depth of your friendship by the time your friend squeezes out for you when s/he has a very busy schedule. That is the measure of true friendship. This is the best way of telling someone that s/he is special. The person that does all these,is definitely a true friend.