Sharon Salzberg tells a story of the Buddha and his disciple Ananda. Ananda asks “Tell me, Lord Buddha, is not half of the holy life having good friends?” Buddha replies “Not so, Ananda, the whole of the holy life is having good friends.”
I was thinking of this on Thanksgiving, when I realized that what I was most thankful for is my good friends. Many of them are new, people I reached out to in the last couple of years when I was having such a hard time. It has been ENORMOUSLY supportive to have these friends, who will come have a cup of tea, and be willing to listen to my grief work and read painful pages from my journal, who will ask me to come have a meal with them, or walk my dog when I can’t. I walk farther when I have a friend with me. I live my life better with all that support.