Receiving Friendship

Receiving Friendship

Here at True Balance Karate in Downers Grove, Illinois, we have a social-emotional learning program called True Character. I’m Master H, the owner and chief instructor here at the studio. I have two master’s degrees in education, and we’ve developed this curriculum to meet the needs of our youngest students, who are three or four, and our oldest student, who is 85.

And this month, we are talking about friendship. Showing respect and trust in each other, taking care of each other, all of that idea is part of our friendship. And earlier in this month, we were talking about showing friendship, how we would show friendship to others around us by listening, by having common interests, by inviting someone to play, by going out for coffee. Any kind of social interaction that way has us showing friendship to others around us.

Expectations

Today, we’re going to talk about how we want to receive that friendship, how do we want to have people treat us if they were our friend, right? Because friendship is really a back-and-forth, and a give-and-take, and a way that we connect with fellow human beings.

And so I would just simply put that you’re going to treat people the way you would like to be treated yourself. So if you are showing friendship by inviting someone out for coffee, you would hope that they would also do the same, you know? You would expect that your friends would say, “Hey, we’re going for coffee. Would you like to join?” Right? Same thing with my younger kids. You would expect that if you’ve invited them to your birthday party, that you would also get that invitation. Now, does that mean that if you don’t, you are not friends? No, that does not mean that. There could be the fact that they weren’t having a friends birthday party. It could be the fact that they could only pick one other person and they had five people to pick from. I mean, there’s a multitude of reasons as to why that would not necessarily happen. So it’s a matter of continuing to show grace and understanding to our friends to figure that part out and understand where that’s coming from.

Keeping Secrets

Now, if we’re receiving friendly attitudes and examples from people around us, we want to make sure that they’re loyal, that they’re trustworthy, that you can confide in them, and that they’re not going to go and tell all of your secrets to everybody else. You want to make sure that you’re comfortable with that person and so that as friendships are growing, that it is met with respect and kindness between the two of you, right?

And so as we continue on this friendship journey, we have to understand that yes, we are showing trust, yes, we are showing kindness, yes, we are keeping confidential things, but the rule that I have is, if it’s going to harm someone, then I’m going to make sure that someone else is involved, right? I don’t keep secrets that are harmful. If you were to come to me and say, “Hey, I still sleep with my favorite stuffed animal,” that is a secret I will gladly keep. Not a problem. But if you came to me and said, “Hey, I’m going to go play soccer on the highway,” that is one that as your friend, I feel it is more important for me to share that with someone that can help make sure that you stay safe.

So this back-and-forth and this give-and-take between friends is something that comes from trust and understanding, and it comes from having been in conversations and situations with that person, and if we both know that our end goal is to keep each other safe because we enjoy being friends, then we’re going to make sure that the other one is safe, that the other one is doing things the right way, and that the other one is respected, and trusted, and kind, and honest, and all of those things that we value in each other.

Awesome Friendship

And so, as we continue going forward with friendship, it’s how we show it, it’s how we receive it, and it’s in making sure that our friends are doing safe things, because some secrets are important to keep and others we need to make sure that we are sharing so that everybody can get the help that they need along the way.

Thanks, and I’ll see you on the mat!

True Balance Karate was founded in 2012 by Master Sue and Paul Helsdon.

We offer kids karate lessons for pre-school children ages 3-6 and elementary age kids ages 7 and up. These lessons are designed to develop the critical building blocks kids need — specialized for their age group — for school excellence and later success in life.

Our adult martial arts training is a complete adult fitness and conditioning program for adults who want to lose weight, get (and stay) in shape, or learn self-defense in a supportive environment.

Instructors can answer questions or be contacted 24 hours of the day, 7 days a week at 630-663-2000. You can also contact us here. True Balance Karate is at 406 Ogden Ave Downers Grove Illinois, 60515 (next to CVS) Check out our Facebook!