As the Great Author Anais Nin Said

A friend is a present that you give to yourself.

AH - MY QUOTE!! I love this quote! Just wrote my own response with this quote; it's on my profile - LOVE IT!!!

Strangers are just friends we haven't met yet....

I agree totally

Thanks Cinderelly, I'm glad you like it.

Lovely quote. I like Anais Nin very much.



This really speaks to me. :)

El, LOL! Indeed, as is sustaining sarcasm. ;)



thanks Brut.

great quote...and true.

Thank YOU PrettyPixie. Every now and again I lapse into sincerity, sustaining irony indefinitely is difficult.

Josie, I have only recently begun to read Anais Nin thanks to a wonderful friend who introduced me to her works. She is fast becoming a favorite of mine.

Fantastic comments everyone. Thank you so much.



ElLagarto, Wonderfully colorful description! Thanks for that one. ;)

One sees the principal realized in AA constantly, because the sharing is so open and heartfelt. Bridges are built and doors are opened, often between people that barely know each other. In the process, profound changes occur. We quite literally reform our personalities through this process of "opening the rooms" for one another.

Is Anais Nin a favorite of your? How did she get there?

What a beautiful quote! It is so lovely.



I definitely think people come in to your life for a reason, as a gift or if you have a lesson to learn. It's not always easy. Some people you just feel so comfortable with straight away.



All the bestx

ElLagarto-that was quite possibly one of the most clever things I've ever read.:) Very funny. Thank you for showing that bit of yourself. You should continue to do so. I relate very much to your mode of thinking. It sounds like something I'd say. Well-put.:)

Agreed. Your life remains static without others. This new world experienced can only be present when a dynamic between two or more people exists. You can't enter that world without the other. It's like entering a room that requires two keys for entrance, and you only possess one. CAN only possess one. Others bring out facets of our personality that otherwise may lay dormant and untapped until another encounter. We each have many faces and modes of behavior for instances in our lives. This is not duplicity, nor is it hypocrisy. You speak differently to your boss than to your spouse. You don't swear in church or around children, (usually) while you may choose to elsewhere. You don't say, 'Yes, I'd like a double cheeseburger and fries with a small Dr. Pepper,' at a bank or randomly walking down the street. You don't bid 'Good morning' to a streetlight. A person doesn't interject 'Your total comes to $25.37. Will that be cash or charge?' while discussing the weather. You don't go golfing indoors, for the most part. You don't sit down in a church confessional to relieve yourself. You don't belt out the Pledge of Allegiance while waiting in line at the Post Office. You don't mosh at board meetings. You don't fly-fish at the office. Many more of these exist. But there are contexts where each action is appropriate, as well as appropriate actions for each location. In the same way as a situation can modify our behavior, so does a different person determine to an extent how we present ourselves. I don't think this means we aren't authentic and don't know how to act. I think it's precisely BECAUSE we are authentic and know how to act that we adapt to each situation. If you have a passion for an activity and find someone who shares it, your discussion will be different than that of one with someone who knows nothing of it. Each person has a dynamic with you that is unique from all others. You are you and they are they. Together you are 'you' or 'we' or 'us,' and become a total greater than the sum of your parts. It's difficult to be married without a husband or wife, or a friend without a friend, or a hamburger without a bun, or a set missing its counterpart.

I apologize for the rambling tangent. So....anyway, yes, that aphorism is very true. :) Thanks for bearing with me. Hope this made some semblance of sense.:)

Yes, and sometimes those worlds are furnished by the Marquis de Sade, with interior decoration by Hieronymus Bosch.

I believe u are absolutely correct about that, a new friend easily settles in the heart and remains forever.

=)

Yes I agree...XO...with only the best intention's. closedin

Thank you Josie. =)

Beautiful

Thank you all so very much for your comments! I agree with everything said.



closedin, no you did not offend me my friend, I am very glad that you chose to elaborate on your first comment.....to share more of your thoughts on this subject.....it can be difficult to express our feelings and ideas when typing them out....they can lose some of their power when we are not face to face....we simply have to try a bit harder to make ourselves understood.



Thank you all, I very much welcome your comments. =)

PrettyPixie, Sorry if I offended you.

Yes that is so true...purhaps I should gone into more depth. It is much like studying history. To live, love and learn. The sum of all our experience's at times of War and Peace. It's better to give to receive. You can't enjoy the peaks unless you experience the valley's. Anything worth having is work. I like to think I always found the good even in worst of situations, encounter's. etc. I also try to learn from each to improve future roads.

Absolutely, PrettyPixie.. we often learn much more from struggles we have to go through.. it seems necessary to go through struggles to get anywhere in life. Just think, without adverse circumstances, how could we ever learn and grow as people. Those who live a sheltered life never really get to 'live'.. to experience, to learn from mistakes and solve their own problems. Life is a 'hands on' venture.. we have to be willing to get our hands dirty to make anything worthwhile. Sorry for all the metaphors.. it seems to be a habit ;)

closedin, I accept that not every person that I have met along the way has brought a wonderful experience into my life. However, looking back I am able to realize that their part in my life was just as meaningful, if not more so, than those who brought with them the good times. The struggles with friends in need, the bad relationships, all of that taught me patients & understanding and a better reliance on myself. I did not realize these things at the time, only upon reflection. I have learned to embrace each interaction I have with another human being, for I believe they all happen for a reason. Whether I am to know or truly understand the reason really does not matter.

I agree if only for a moment. I know you have heard right road, wrong road story. If you really think back all the path's that you have taken where filled with new and interesting people, things and experiences both good and bad.

I very much agree tasmin!



yes, Dee67. Thank you.

Beautiful.