Hey there, Lovely
Ever wonder what it takes in this digital age to nurture in-depth, more meaningful relationships? Deep conversations and authentic relationships are what fuels me, along with my plain black coffee, of course!
I’m going to break it down for you and share a few tips from my friends as well. First, maybe you are wondering why this is important, and why does it include lifestyle engagement photos? Well, stay tuned!
“Friends help us deal with stress, make better lifestyle choices that keep us strong, and allow us to rebound from health issues and disease more quickly. A recent Harvard study concluded that having solid friendships in our life even helps promote brain health.” –liveabout
In this fast-paced digital world, time with friends can be invaluable. What if we invested our time in each other with no agenda? You may have heard if you want to be successful you need to spend time with successful people, but what if we just wanted to show people love for the sake of being a Christ-follower? What if we were so full of Jesus that it just bubbled out of us, and no strategic plan was set in place?
That brings us to point #1.
Spend time with Jesus so that you have the capacity to fill others.
Ashley says, “I know I’m a better friend when I am not crazy busy and when I spend daily time with Jesus.”
Yes! Don’t add this to your already full calendar.
Cut. Some. Things. Out.
That’s right, make every ‘yes’ be life-giving, passion-filled things.
Breathe, and soak in His presence and wait for His response.
Next #2 Invest in knowing who they truly are.
Whether it’s the highly-popular enneagram test or the old-school 5 love languages quiz by Gary Chapman, new friendships don’t have to be any less authentic than 10-year friendships. Not if you start on sure footing like these personality questions to truly understand each other.
Adriane says, “Time spent together and knowing you can always count on them to support you and have your back. My love languages are Quality Time and Acts of Service.”
This simple statement teaches me how to be the best friend I can be to Adriane.
Sarah says, “Honesty and being kept in the loop.”
These are two qualities she has to have in order to feel comfortable in her friendships. Have you asked your friends what theirs might be? Can you guess them correctly before they answer?
Last, but not least #3 Listen.
Much can be learned about a person from simple observation. Listen to listen, don’t listen to respond and say what you were going to say without hearing them first.
Kabedi says, “In friendships, I always need to feel heard. And be able to have a good, deep conversation. And you do exactly that. I know I can trust you with things and you were able to have a talk with me about grieving and death in a way that wasn’t competitive. And I feel like a lot of people like to compare and say what’s worse. And you didn’t do that.”
Now, I’m not telling you this because I got it right here. I’m telling you this so that you see it can be done. This isn’t as hard as us introverts make it.
Soon you will see authentic relationships grow and receive messages like this,
“Thank you for understanding and seeing the best in me! I think that’s why I value our friendship so much. I feel like there is a mutual understanding that is very rare.”-Lori
You may be wondering why these beautiful lifestyle engagement photos are accompanied by a blog about friendships… Kabedi and Jeremy are the stars of this blog because that is exactly how our friendship began.
We met in January and I can’t imagine not having these two amazing humans in my life. When I said my passion-filled, life-giving ‘yes’ to modeling for an event that led me to meet Kabedi and her devoted fiance, that led to them winning the giveaway that held my photo session inside, that led to the coffee date that lasted 4 hours, that led to that amazing conversation where we bonded over shared struggles.
Whew! Isn’t God amazing? Putting people in our path at just the right time.
All I’m saying is, are you looking for those opportunities?
Let’s do more of that.
Thanks for following along, lovely friends.
Until next time,
Klassic Photography
