Courtesy: Library of Congress

Close friends are people you can turn to in times of crisis. They’re the ones who will give you a caring and listening ear while you’re working your way through one of life’s rough patches.  In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Sue Shellenbarger pointed out that such friendships are difficult for many people to cultivate and maintain given the demands of home, family and work.  At the same time, close friendships are the kind that, “…best support health and happiness.”  The lesson here is that if you want to reap the benefits that close friendships bring, you have to make the time to develop and maintain them.  One of the things I did several years ago was to join a group that exists primarily for this purpose.  Several people I knew already belonged and they asked my wife and I to join.  The group meets once a week from 7:00-8:30 am.  At each meeting, we go around the table and everyone is given the opportunity to share the sorrows, pain and joy that’s currently going on in their life.  Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry—often we do both.  The group has two basic rules: First, you will not be judged and second, what’s discussed in the group stays in the group.  I always come away from these meetings feeling better and I know I have more than a dozen friends that I can count on.