Enduring friends, who support and encourage you throughout your life are vitally important to us all.
In order to keep a life-long friendship, you need to become a life-long friend.
A true friend will accept you in spite of all your flaws.
When you take this attitude towards others, they will return the same treatment to you.
Following are a few more tips on being an excellent friend.
Encourage others in what they do.
Be generous whenever you pass out praise.
It is free; it does not cost anything for you to give out, but the person receiving benefits tremendously.
Make sure your praise is genuine and will not fall under a seemly similar, but really a quite different category: flattery.
Flattery does not really help people.
It is confusing and often manipulating.
When you praise a person, it is very concrete and clear.
The person being praised understands why you appreciate them and feels good about what they have done.
Although genuine praise requires thought and effort, it is well worth the favor you will gain with others.
Avoid argument and disagreements with other people.
A lot of arguments are started over one person criticizing the other.
Criticism is always going to break down, not improve, your relationships with others.
Always be positive and uplifting, rather than finding fault with people.
Remember what we talked about earlier: accepting others in spite of their flaws.
Sometimes, even though you have not done anything to provoke a friend, they might be angry with you.
When this happens, just stay calm.
Keep your voice low and refuse to let the other person make you angry as well.
Apologize, even when you are not in the wrong, because your relationships more important than who is really right or wrong.
When the other person sees how calm you are, their anger will soon evaporate, and they will work with you to find a solution peacefully.
One of the most important aspects of being a good friend is listening to them.
When your friend is telling you a story, listen attentively.
You do care about this person's personal life; otherwise you would not be their friend, so show them you do care.
Watch their face as they speak, and nod your head or laugh in the appropriate places.
When you are with your friends, do not control the conversation with your life, listen about their problems and come up with helpful solutions.
When you use these little tips to show people you truly care about them and their life, they will return your friendship.