PHILOSOPHY OF FRIENDSHIP for human growth

Friendship is a deep and mutual relationship between people that is built on trust, affection, respect, and shared experiences. It plays a crucial role in emotional support, personal growth, and overall happiness.

### Key Aspects of Friendship:

1. **Trust and Loyalty**:
- Trust is the foundation of any true friendship. Friends can confide in each other, knowing their secrets and vulnerabilities are safe.
- Loyalty means standing by each other in difficult times, showing that the bond is unwavering.

2. **Mutual Respect**:
- Respecting each other's opinions, feelings, and boundaries is crucial. Even when friends disagree, they value each other's perspective and maintain respect.

3. **Honesty and Open Communication**:
- Honest conversations, even when difficult, strengthen friendships. Friends should feel free to express their thoughts and emotions without fear of judgment.
- Open communication helps prevent misunderstandings and resolves conflicts.

4. **Support and Encouragement**:
- Good friends support each other through ups and downs, celebrating successes and providing comfort during challenges.
- Encouragement from friends can boost confidence and motivate personal growth.

5. **Shared Interests and Experiences**:
- Common interests often bring people together, but it’s the shared experiences, laughter, and memories that deepen friendships over time.
- Even if friends have different hobbies, they bond over spending time together and creating meaningful moments.

6. **Empathy and Understanding**:
- Friends listen with empathy and try to understand each other’s feelings. This emotional connection helps them provide comfort and support during hard times.

7. **Dependability**:
- Reliability is key. A true friend is someone you can count on, whether you need advice, help, or simply someone to talk to.

8. **Forgiveness and Patience**:
- No one is perfect. Friends make mistakes, but true friendship involves patience and the willingness to forgive, knowing that the bond is more important than small conflicts.

### Importance of Friendship:
- **Emotional Well-being**: Friends provide emotional support, helping to reduce stress, anxiety, and loneliness.
- **Personal Growth**: Friends challenge each other, offering new perspectives and encouraging personal development.
- **Social Connections**: Friendships offer a sense of belonging and help build a strong social network.

### Types of Friendships:
- **Acquaintances**: Casual relationships based on shared environments like work or school, with limited personal involvement.
- **Close Friends**: A smaller group of people with whom you share deep emotional bonds, trust, and affection.
- **Lifelong Friends**: Friends who have been in your life for many years, with a bond that transcends time and distance.

1. RASHEED, Oluwasegun Kazeem Ph.D
([phone], ([phone]
[email protected]

MNAEAP, EMPM, MNIM, MTRCN, MACSN, CT, Dip. Digital Mkt., CEAF,
CME, W10FE, CMIE, FMIE, MAPROCON, AMIBRN, MCIEMA (USA)

Lead Principal Facilitator at HEED – A - DINK CONSULT

3. INTRODUCTION
Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection
between people. It is a stronger form of
interpersonal bond that has ever exist in the history
of man.
Although there are many words used closely with
friendship , some of which may vary from place to
place with certain characteristics present in many
types of such bonds. These include affection;
kindness, love, virtue, sympathy, empathy, honesty,
altruism, loyalty, generosity, forgiveness, mutual
understanding and compassion, enjoyment of each
other's company, trust, and the ability to be oneself,
express one's feelings to others, and make mistakes
without fear of judgment from the friend. Friendship
is an essential aspect of relationship building skills.

4. Friendship extends your circle of emotional,
social, and support beyond just family
members. Friends can provide you with
much needed help; trust and comfort in
your time of need. Under normal
conditions, friends offer better assistance
hand, advice and share life experiences.
Friends give you sense of belonging and
available sometimes in emergency
situations. Friends offer invaluable support
in overcoming life obstacles.

5. KIND OF FRIENDS
1. Ancient Friend: This is a friend that has been known
for years. Time passage and development of life
separate one from such friend.

2. Occasional Friend: This is a friend that is there for
you not all times but rarely in some occasions.

3. Momentum Friend: This kind of friend appears and
assist as at when needed. At the moment of his/her
need he/she would be available.

4. Life Long Friend: This is a friend that will be in your
life for ever. What separates each other is death

6. KIND OF FRIENDS
5. Seasonal Friend: This kind of friend is available to you not
always but in a period of need and where he/she can best
offer his/her competencies.

6. Modern Friend: This is a friend that comes into your life
suddenly through life pursuit. This kind of friend exposes you
to areas where you are not aware.

7. Takers Friend: This kind of friend does not have anything to
offer you than to milk from you always.

8. Investment Friend: This kind of friend is not interested in your
family affair neither any other thing in your life. What brought
you together is just business and that is all.

7. KIND OF FRIENDS
9. Fox Friend: This kind of friend invites you into bad behaviours
and gang stars.

10. Beer Friend: This kind of friend only belief in fun and partying.

11. Mosquito Friend: This is a regular friend that shares you vital
information that makes your life better.

12. Cat Friend: This kind of friend provides regular and un-
common help. He/she relates with you like brother and sister.

13. Dove Friend: This friend is ready to share your burdens and
worries without hesitation.

14. Ant Friend: This is a kind of friend that relate with you without
looking at the barrier, background and academic.

8. REAL FRIENDS
Real friends are people you can go to for anything. They will
always be on your side, through thick and thin. A real
friend accepts you as you are. They can encourage you to
become a better version of you, they also help you see the
beauty of who you are. They don't get sidetracked by what
others may say or think of you. Instead, they celebrate you
for good. A true friend may encourage you to make good
decisions, they trust your judgment and respect your own
personal judgments. They don't become passive aggressive
when they give advice you don't accept, instead, they
respect boundaries and value your feelings and thoughts.
They don't push you to become who they want you to be,
instead, they celebrate what makes you uniquely you. They
accept your personal growth and evolutions along the way
because the reasons they value goes far beneath your
personal style, interests, profession, marital/relationship
status.

9. BENEFITS OF REAL/TRUE FRIENDS
•1. Supports you in all your endeavors: A real friend will encourage you with
anything that you try!

•2. Forgives you for anything: Real friends will know that sometimes you will
mess up. They will forgive you because they value your friendship more than
your (temporary) mistake.

•3. Always have your back: They always are on your side and will fight for you in
absence.

•4. Lets you explore your interests: A real friend will let you do your thing and
encourage you to explore this new part of yourself.

•5. They constantly keep in contact: Real friends will contact you wherever and
whenever because they are always interested in what’s going on in your life.

•6. Keeps your secrets: If you can trust anyone to not gossip around town about
your little secrets, that is your real friends.

10. MINUS DIVIDER


ADDITIVE MULTIPLIER

11. Benefits of True/Real Friends
•1. Supports you in all your endeavors: A real friend will encourage you with
anything that you try!

•2. Forgives you for anything: Real friends will know that sometimes you will
mess up. They will forgive you because they value your friendship more than
your (temporary) mistake.

•3. Always have your back: They always are on your side and will fight for you in
absence.

•4. Lets you explore your interests: A real friend will let you do your thing and
encourage you to explore this new part of yourself.

•5. They constantly keep in contact: Real friends will contact you wherever and
whenever because they are always interested in what’s going on in your life.

•6. Keeps your secrets: If you can trust anyone to not gossip around town about
your little secrets, that is your real friends.

12. INNER THOUGHT QUESTIONS
•WHO ARE YOUR FRIENDS?

•WHAT HAVE YOU GAINED FROM THEM OVER THE
YEARS?

•WHAT POSITIVE IMPACTS ARE THEY HAVING IN
YOUR LIFE?

•IN WHICH ASPECT ARE YOU CONNECTED?

•WHAT BROUGHT YOU TOGETHER?

13. FRIENSHIP IS THE HARDEST THING IN THE WORLD TO
EXPLAIN. IT IS NOT SOMETHING YOU LEARN IN
SCHOOL. IF YOU HAVEN’T LEARNED THE MEANING OF
FRIENDSHIP YOU REALLY HAVEN’T LEARNED
ANYTHING. [Muhammed Ali]

NEVER CALL SOMEONE YOUR FRIEND UNTIL YOU FRIEND
WITH HIM IN TRUE FRIENDSHIP TRUST [Rasheed O. K.]

IF YOU GO OUT TO SEARCH FOR FRIENDS THEY ARE
SURPLUS; IF YOU TRULY SEARCH FOR TRUE FRIENDS
THEY ARE SCARCE [Rasheed O. K.]