Comments on: The Healing Powers of Friendship http://www.drrkg.com/2010/02/16/the-healing-powers-of-friendship/ Women's Issues | Resilience | Relationships | Inspiration | Support Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:18:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Dr. Jane Shure http://www.drrkg.com/2010/02/16/the-healing-powers-of-friendship/comment-page-1/#comment-142 Dr. Jane Shure Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:17:13 +0000 http://www.drrkg.com/?p=1735#comment-142 Randy, I love how you have created this site. Your writing on friendship hit my core as I do believe that the love, support and safety of my women friends has been the strongest support to allow my true self to emerge throughout life. While I have a fabulous husband, I do think that my early friendships with girlfriends are what allowed me to be known and seen amongst my peers, thus helping generate a sense that I was acceptable, likable enough. In graduate school in the mid-70s I was blessed to be with a group of women who came together to share and explore feminism in our personal lives. We evolved into a support group, and now, 33 years later, we remain a group, committed to meeting together once a month. This has required time and the willingness to follow through, knowing that if one of us doesn't hold our end of the commitment, the group's strength suffers. I (and they) can honestly say that the collective support of coming to be "known," "seen," and "accepted" by these women, has helped me emerge into the strength of character I have now as an adult mid-life woman. This is such an important topic to discuss on your blog and in your writing, because, like most things, friendships don't just happen, they require willingness, effort and resistance to judgment of self and others. Best of luck in writing the book and I hope to meet up one of these days. Jane Shure, PhD, LCSW janeshure.com/blog Randy,
I love how you have created this site. Your writing on friendship hit
my core as I do believe that the love, support and safety of my women
friends has been the strongest support to allow my true self to emerge
throughout life. While I have a fabulous husband, I do think that my
early friendships with girlfriends are what allowed me to be known and
seen amongst my peers, thus helping generate a sense that I was
acceptable, likable enough. In graduate school in the mid-70s I was
blessed to be with a group of women who came together to share and
explore feminism in our personal lives. We evolved into a support
group, and now, 33 years later, we remain a group, committed to
meeting together once a month.

This has required time and the willingness to follow through, knowing
that if one of us doesn’t hold our end of the commitment, the group’s
strength suffers. I (and they) can honestly say that the collective
support of coming to be “known,” “seen,” and “accepted” by these
women, has helped me emerge into the strength of character I have now
as an adult mid-life woman. This is such an important topic to discuss
on your blog and in your writing, because, like most things,
friendships don’t just happen, they require willingness, effort and
resistance to judgment of self and others.

Best of luck in writing the book and I hope to meet up one of these
days.
Jane Shure, PhD, LCSW
janeshure.com/blog

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