A Good friend is much cheaper than therapy- and ten times as helpful
"People report being happier when they are with friends than when they're with a spouse or child," according to research cited in a recent cover story in Psychology Today magazine. This indeed, is something to ponder seriously. To repeat, people actually experience greater joy while spending time with their friends than while spending time with their children or their mates. This should give you an idea of the value of friendship.
Let's pass over to the really rich- how often the occasions they look just like to poor! When they travel abroad they must restrict their baggage, and when haste is necessary, they dismiss their entourage. And those who are in the army, how few of their possessions they get to keep..."
Ryan Holiday, The 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
You have proof in the extent of your wanderings that you never found the art of living anywhere — not in logic, nor in wealth, fame, or in any indulgence. Nowhere. Where is it then? In doing what human nature demands. How is a person to do this? By having principles be the source of desire and action. What principles? Those to do with good and evil, indeed in the belief that there is no good for a human being except what creates justice, self- control, courage and freedom, and nothing evil except what destroys these things. — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 8.1.(5)
16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.17 If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
