This week I had dinner with a friend that I have known since university. We don’t see much of each other these as she lives a three hour drive away but when we do the distance disappears.
Mrs G has stood next to me in the middle of the Sydney CBD while I howled with a broken heart unfazed by the stares of passers by, we partied our way through girls weekends away, held each others hands through the loss of a child and post natal depression. You get the picture. She is part of my history. And she never flinches from straight talking.
So last week perched up on bar stools discussing the latest bend in the road of life she delivered up her latest dose of straight talking and ouch did it hurt!
The hard part for me was staying open and actually listening to her rather than getting defensive. But listen I did and the ensuing conversation was interesting, informative and of real benefit to me.
Getting ready for bed that night I reflected on our conversation and realized that she offered me a true gift of friendship. She acknowledged our collective history and the wisdom that has come with age by assuming I would not feel judged but rather supported and encouraged by her offering some words of advice that she felt (correctly) would be of value.
How many times have I chosen to keep quiet, how many times have you chosen to keep quiet because your have assumed the defensive fragility of ego rather than the strength of heart would reign in an honest and open conversation?
How much more would our communities of friendship be enriched if we bravely listened with an open heart to those conversations that called us on our ‘soft’ spots rather then retreating?