How to Be a Better Friend

Have you noticed that you don't seem to see or be in touch with your friends as often as you used to, or you would like?

Do you get the feeling that the pressures of life crowd out your friends, or worry that you might lose them?

We all instinctively know that friendships matter to us, and that we can get a great deal of satisfaction and pleasure from close relationships with people who are not blood relatives.

And scientific research has backed up this instinctive awareness. A study of people over seventy found that those who have a strong network of friends are much less likely to die. So friends are good for your physical as well as your emotional health. (1)

Friendships and health - are they the same?

However, we don't tend to treat friendships like we do other health factors in our lives. We know that if we want to be well, we have to eat a balanced nutritious diet, and take moderate exercise.

We know we have to avoid harmful behaviors. We accept that we have to take action if we want to protect and enhance our health.

Friendships, on the other hand, can seem more like natural phenomena to us, as if they are 'givens' like the weather.

They seem to happen as spontaneously as the weather, or perhaps more accurately like the climate. They are just there. You don't have to do anything to have them. But as you are reading this, you may be getting a sense that these 'taken for granted' relationships may not be there after all.

Why friendships are under strain everywhere

It may sound a bit over the top to compare the fading or weakening of friendship with climate change, but the analogy may be useful. The dramatic social and economic changes of recent times have placed enormous stresses on all human relationships.

We tend to live further apart, and our lives are full of many demanding and/or distracting activities. The web of connection gets stretched to breaking point.

What this is making us all realize is that we can no longer take our connections for granted. Once upon a time, the constraints of geography ensured that all our connections were close by, within easy reach, and would be encountered regularly as a matter of course without any special endeavor. Now, if you want to see or talk to a friend, you have to actively plan to do so.

Looking after friendship - whose responsibility is it?

This can seem a little unnatural, and that feeling makes people hesitate. Nobody wants to 'force' a friendship. But remember, the person on the other side is probably feeling the same!

Whose responsibility is it to 'look after' the connection and see that it doesn't break? Everyone likes to know that someone else is thinking of them, is interested in their lives. It's a compliment to show that you care enough to connect.

So, if you want to become a better friend, and look after your friendships better, and you're feeling all these hesitations and concerns, where do you start?

How to use hypnosis to help you become a better friend

Be a Better Friend is an audio hypnosis session developed by psychologists and based on the latest scientific understandings of personal change and human connections.

Using the power of hypnosis, this session will help you to take a whole new look at your personal web of connections and get to feel really comfortable about being proactive in nurturing it.

As you take the time to listen regularly to your session, you will notice that you steadily find yourself

• bringing 'friend time' up your list of priorities
• feeling more relaxed about renewing contact
• automatically taking more practical steps to connect with people you haven't seen in a while
• discovering how to make more of connections by phone or internet
• ensuring that you also make time to meet in person
• beginning to enjoy the benefits of revivified (and stronger) connections

Download Be a Better Friend and make the most of who you know and care for. You can listen on your computer or device or via our free app which you can access when you have completed your purchase.

Note:
(1) See: Lynne C Giles, Gary F V Glonek, Mary A Luszcz, Gary R Andrews: Effect of social networks on 10 year survival in very old Australians: the Australian longitudinal study of aging. J Epidemiol Community Health 2005;59:574-579 doi:10.1136/jech.2004.025429