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Jenna Mindel's avatar

Hi there! THIS IS SO GOOD. There is so much wisdom here, thank you so much for sharing! As somebody who is unashamedly an 'inviter', I can confidently say that it makes my connections in my life so much better. When we cease to invite people out of fear, we assume that our friends do not want to spend time with us, which is just weird! Assume your friends want to hang out with you and spend quality time. Anyway, this is such a good round-up of tips, you have got a new subscriber! I am so excited to see what else you write about related to friendships, a topic I love writing about.

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Jon Caliguire's avatar

Thanks so much Jenna! This made my day! I enjoyed reading this while sipping on my coffee this morning and it helped me move into the day with some awesome energy! THANK YOU! Stoked to keep sharing on here. Glad to have you as a subscriber 🫶

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Fa's avatar

I second this. I personally prefer to invite and plan than receiving the invite. This way I have control of my time, who am I going to meet, and what we’ll do exactly. Receiving NOs is discouraging but it shouldn’t be difficult to tell whether a person genuinely wants to spend time with you vs. making up excuses. Be confident and assume people want to meet you.

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Gabriela C's avatar

That's pretty awesome

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Jon Caliguire's avatar

Thanks Gabriela! Appreciate the comment! Hope you have a good day/ life 🫶

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Fr. Chris Pietraszko's avatar

Number 3 is often where things get difficult, but when there is a perseverance in conflict and through conflict it only makes the relationship all the stronger. It’s difficult to find and rare, but precious. Sirach 6 is one of my favourite Bible verses on this subject.

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Jon Caliguire's avatar

Thanks for sharing Chris! Agreed. There’s really only a couple of friends in my life that have weathered those conversations consistently. I’ve never read Sirach! Is that part of the Apocrypha?

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Fr. Chris Pietraszko's avatar

It’s part of the Catholic Bible so yes. :)

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/sirach/6

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Jon Caliguire's avatar

Dang so cool! Just read it. Beautiful stuff in there on friendship!

“Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter;

whoever finds one finds a treasure.

Faithful friends are beyond price,

no amount can balance their worth.

Faithful friends are life-saving medicine”

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David's avatar

Great article, Jon! Loved especially the point about listening—it’s such a simple thing that’s so easy to forget.

You might find this article interesting that I released this morning: https://open.substack.com/pub/randomnumbers/p/the-biblical-nuclear-family-is-a?r=1yk5df&utm_medium=ios

Don’t let the title fool you, it’s secretly setting up for later articles about why friendship/brotherhood is so great.

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Jon Caliguire's avatar

So cool thanks for sharing David!

Loved your article as well, stoked to follow along!

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samantha nagel's avatar

I agree 100% that women have an ease in finding friendships vs men. I see how much the men around me aren’t vulnerable with other men. It’s socially acceptable for women to bond and deeply connect

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