Wonderfully insightful
4 steloj
Reflections on the Nature of Friendship is a deeper and more scholarly work than I had expected. Daniel Cantor Yalowitz explores the concept of friendship in all its aspects giving illustrative examples from his own experience as well as quoting a number of other astute sources on the subject from Rumi to Jane Austen. I appreciated how each chapter focused on a different theme and, rather than reading straight through at my usual rapid pace, I found it more helpful to take a break between chapters. This allowed me time to fully contemplate the thoughts Yalowitz stirred up. The chapter about befriending oneself rang particularly true as, personally, I find it easier to reach out and to interest myself in others since undertaking work to truly understand myself.
I have certainly found myself seeing my own friendships in a different light as a result of reading this wonderfully insightful book. …
Reflections on the Nature of Friendship is a deeper and more scholarly work than I had expected. Daniel Cantor Yalowitz explores the concept of friendship in all its aspects giving illustrative examples from his own experience as well as quoting a number of other astute sources on the subject from Rumi to Jane Austen. I appreciated how each chapter focused on a different theme and, rather than reading straight through at my usual rapid pace, I found it more helpful to take a break between chapters. This allowed me time to fully contemplate the thoughts Yalowitz stirred up. The chapter about befriending oneself rang particularly true as, personally, I find it easier to reach out and to interest myself in others since undertaking work to truly understand myself.
I have certainly found myself seeing my own friendships in a different light as a result of reading this wonderfully insightful book. In fact I was prompted to write to a neglected friend as soon as I finished the book, Yalowitz's thoughts on how some friendships survive over periods of inactivity and others don't spurring me to not risk losing that particular connection through my own inactivity. I think Reflections on the Nature of Friendship is a book to savour and to work through. Yalowitz includes various simple exercises at certain points and I envisage returning to them again in months or years as a way to gauge my own path. His advocacy of practices such as meditation and tai chi reminded me that I meant to look into these further after reading Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche and am still to do so.
I think Reflections on the Nature of Friendship would be an invaluable read for people who want a deeper understanding of the psychological and emotional responses underpinning human friendships, especially in situations where we find ourselves repeating negative patterns or feeling at a loss for how to repair a valued friendship that seems to be running our of steam. It is an excellent resource also for pre-emptive understanding of the mechanics of this most fundamental of human needs, one which is more often taken for granted than fully appreciated.