Who are your favorite people to be around?
When it comes to people, I try to surround myself with loving, funny, open-minded human beings. I know I am lucky in always having friends like this by my side.
Open-minded
Not everyone will have the same dreams or opinions as you. And that’s OK. We live in a world where everyone is different from everyone in some respect or other. Literally. There’s no two people in the world that are exactly alike. There are always differences in background, culture or faith. But guess what, not everyone needs to agree about everything.
Unfortunately, there will be people simply trying to change the way you are. I don’t understand why that still happens today. Diversity is a blessing in any family, neighborhood or nation. We just need to accept that people are and think differently. So, having people who are tolerant, sympathetic, unbiased is what I look for. You’ve got to have someone that accepts you as you are by your side, that’s something unnegotiable.
Funny
Do you know that friend who makes you laugh? That disarms you with humor? That makes you see that life has no deep meaning? Those are the ones I like to be with. I don’t have a great sense of humor myself. But I try to see the comic side of a situation or not take life too seriously. I push myself to see things more lightly. In the end, we are just a bunch of human beings trying to make sense of life. We eventually discover it is a big joke.
Loving
Finally, there must be love. Love is not really a feeling. It’s a decision, a resolution to stay with your person during thick and thin. We all fail sometimes, but where there’s love, there’s forgiveness. Love is not something that just happens, it’s something we cultivate. It takes a lifetime, but that’s also the beauty of it. For it to work, we need to take care of it everyday. The more we feed it, the more it grows.
What are the people you want to have around you? Do they fit the bill, I mean, are they loving, funny, open-minded people? What other characteristics do you look for in them?