How to Be a Good Friend

Video Transcript

"Hi, have you wondered how to be a good friend? Well I'm Dr. Felicia and I'd like to share a few tips with you on how to be a really good friend. To be a good friend calls for a very simple formula. It means that you're there for them and you listen, you emphasize and you understand so that whatever your friend is going through, you don't try to control it, you don't try to manipulate it or persuade them, you actually help them explore what it is they would like to do about the situation. So listening and being empathetic is probably the first criteria for being a good friend. And sticking through them loyally through the hard times. But a good friend is one who does not judge and gives what we call unacceptable, unconditional love and spiritualism. So when you're going forward with a friendship, you're going to remain loyal. I mean certainly we hear it from teenage boys who hang together and they call them their home boys or they're very loyal to one another. But loyalty has a lot to do with friendship. So in order to be loyal, you need to be there for them, be consistent and listen. So if you want to be a good friend, you need to reinforce your listening skills, emphasize with the other person, and remember, give them that unconditional acceptance at all times. Help them sort out for themselves what they need to make in choices and options in their life, and just stand by them as the process unfolds. Keep that in mind. And this is Dr. Felicia, hopefully giving you some good tips on how to be a good friend. Signing out, God bless, good luck."