Category: Friends

How to Choose a Friend

7/7/2026

Having good friends is like being equipped with a powerful auxiliary engine. When we encounter a steep hill or an obstacle, we can encourage each other and find the strength to keep pressing forward." -Daisaku Ikeda
Buddhist teachers are universal in stressing that the company we keep, that the people we choose as friends, is vitally important. The technical term for good companions is "sattva" or "sattvic" people. This is an individual whose thoughts, words and actions are guided and infused with light, compassion, insight, wisdom, and emotional-spiritual intelligence.
-Victor M Parachin, Buddhist Wisdom for Beginners

Let Friends Be Your Lifeline

11/8/2025

The right people for grievers include those who listen compassionately and without judgment and who respond with these kinds of empathy statements:

- This must be very difficult for you.
- This has got to be hard to accept.
- What can I do? How can I help?
- I'm so sorry.
- Tell me more.
- It's okay to cry.
- Call me whenever you want to talk.
- You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Compassionate listeners do more listening than speaking. They never make you feel as though you have been judged or misunderstood. You know that they know your pain or, at the very least, are trying hard to understand and be supportive. Blanket yourself with these kinds of people.
-Victor M Parachin, Healing Grief

How to Choose a Friend

Let Friends Be Your Lifeline

Victor M. Parachin ... a

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