True Friends Are Not Dream-Slashers. Real Women Love Martha.
A friendship poem:
Choose friends wisely, the portrait they paint
Is who you are and who you ain't.
Friendship is life's great support
When friends are of the right sort.
For all your dreams do they make room,
Or bring you down with doom and gloom?
You will know a friendship is true
When it brings out the best in you..
It's true. You can tell a person by the company she keeps. Our friendships not only tell a lot about who we are -- they make us who we are.
The friendship poem above says it all. You will know a friendship is true when it brings out the best in you.
Take a look at your friendships. Do they bring out the best in you? That might seem like a silly question. We all tend to think, "Of course they bring out the best in me. I wouldn't be friends with them otherwise."
But stop and think why you are friends. Here are a few common reasons why people become friends:
- Common background, sharing a comfort level in company from "the same side of the tracks".
- Common current situation, being able to discuss parenting, home renovations, or some other major life circumstance.
- Common interest, such as cards, bowling, hunting, etc.
- For shy people, a person who actually approached you is a candidate for friendship.
- For leaders, somebody who seems content to follow is a likely candidate.
- Somebody you spend time with anyway, such as a colleague, sibling, etc, often becomes a friend.
- Somebody you see frequently anyway, such as a neighbor, store clerk, etc, could become a friend.
These are just a few reasons people choose friends. It is the easy, natural way, but it is not always in our best interest. Sure, we should always want to get along with colleagues, neighbors, siblings, and anybody else.
But we should choose our friends, the people we open up to, very carefully. For instance, even a sibling can bring you down, pooh-pooh your dreams and load you up with negativity. "Ha! You think you can teach? What do you know about teaching?"
Even well-meaning friends can be dream-slashers. "Oh, do you really think you should go into business for yourself? I mean, what about security?"
On the other hand, some friends have a way of building up your dreams. "Go for it! You could really do well. And at worst, you'll at least have given it your best shot!"
Friends will often lend a hand. "Gee, I don't know much about fitness, but is there any way I can help you reach your goal?" Dream-slashers usually don't. "Hey, if you insist on pursuing this crazy scheme, leave me out of it."
A true friendship should:
- Encourage you to live your dream.
- Support you toward your goals.
- Sympathize for your losses and help you find a silver lining.
- Build your self-esteem.
If happiness and life-satisfaction are your goals, your friends should be chosen on the basis of how well they can accomplish those four goals.
Happiness is a personal choice that comes from within. But it sure doesn't hurt to have supportive friendships that help us achieve our goals.
About The Author
David Leonhardt
is The Happy Guy, publisher of "Your Daily Dose of Happiness" at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com/daily-happiness-free-ezine.html and author of Climb your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com/happiness-self-help-book.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
Martha Stewart will make sugar cookies and a whopping pitcher of lemonade out of lemons after she takes off that ankle bracelet. I love the Fox News commentary that we can't keep track of sex offenders in Florida, but Martha has to wear an ankle bracelet and can't garden or ride horses. All right, Martha, back away from the tomatoes!
Her stock may go through growing pains, but her Sirius radio show will lure an audience like bees to honey glazed ham.
Why?
Let's look beyond the "she said/she didn't say" particulars.
Savemartha.com, Marthatalks.com, and other Web sites indicate that Ms. Stewart is not the most hated woman in America. Even Jay Leno, previously bombarded by Savemartha.com for his jibes at Martha, made some humorous jabs on her behalf. "Keep track of her?
We can't get rid of her!...Martha can't ride a horse on her farm. What, are the police afraid of a 60-year-old woman on horseback? They couldn't even catch O.J. in the Ford Bronco!"
Meanwhile, feminists, who conveniently remained silent while a largely male conspiracy degraded a strong, independent, successful woman, often derided Martha as setting an impossible and unrealistic standard of perfection.
You want to talk unrealistic? The media portrays the ideal woman as size 2 with breast implants.
And the marketing machine pretends Britney Spears can sing and Jessica Simpson actually has something to say worth listening to.
But aren't we supposed to be beyond those traditional feminine roles?
Hey, weren't the feminists saying that Woman is all-nurturing and any labor that comes from Womyn's hands is superior to (cough) males of any race but especially white males? Methinks the ladies do protest too much. Maybe feeling awkward about their own domestic skills? Guilty over a standard they themselves repudiate? Afraid of their own feminine urges to make crepe paper decorations and make a cake?
Real women bake pies. Or choose not to--that's fine. Real women decorate for Christmas. Real women garden. Real women can be difficult to work with, the same as the real men. People just notice it more when the refusal to compromise comes from a pair of size seven high heels. But hey, even Dennis Rodman and RuPaul got away with that.
And speaking of athletes, real women know that it's not okay for people who dribble a ball all day to get billions of dollars a year while people like Martha
who embody the American Dream, who give us products that actually enrich our lives instead of hours of mindless television and sports talk, get a prison sentence. The entire NBA has been in prison. I don't see anyone threatening to stop buying Nikes and Air Jordans.
Real women bake cookies. It's a no-brainer: Chocolate chips! As in, chocolate chip cookies! Which, by the way, the male of the species has also been known to eat. It's interesting to note that half the messages and letters on Savemartha.com are from men.
Real women bake. We know you're out there. So show your support and buy Martha, bake with Martha, and tune in to Martha Stewart Living Radio when it launches.
Movie reviewer/screenwriter Kristin Johnson composes personalized poems, speeches, toasts, vows, and family memories. Visit http://www.poemsforyou.com to order your personalized memories. She is also co-author of the Midwest Book Review "enthusiastically recommended" pick Christmas Cookies Are For Giving: Stories, Recipes and Tips for Making Heartwarming Gifts (ISBN: 0-9723473-9-9). A downloadablemedia kit is available at our Web site, http://www.christmascookiesareforgiving.com, or e-mail the publisher (info@tyrpublishing.com) to receive a printed media kit and sample copy of the book. More articles available at http://www.bakingchristmascookies.comArticle Source: http://EzineArticles.com/
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