I loved reading Lisa Nichols book in terms of relationships that come and go in our lives, and it reminds me a lot of Tyler Perry’s ‘Madea Goes To Jail’ play where he explained metaphorically about a tree. You are the tree, and you have leaves, branches, and roots. Friends go into all categories just how Lisa Nichols explained in her book. With that being said, let’s dive in.
Lifetime Relationships
No matter what happens in life, one is going to bury the other. These lifetime relationships can come at any given time. For example, I have my best friend in New York who I’ve know almost two decades – lifetime. My other best friend in Phoenix who I’ve known from college – lifetime. Lastly, my best friend in Melbourne, Australia who I recently met in 2013 – lifetime. These are considered the roots. Without the roots, the tree cannot live. Cherish your roots, Be grateful for your roots. Water your roots. Take care of your roots, because when you’re on death bed, those roots will be right by your side going over the funnest of times in life.
Life-Giving Relationships
These typically range from a one-time meeting to a two year relationship. I like to say that they can sometimes be life-giving acquaintances. These are the people who simply give you a compliment to show that you got it. The passerbys who say, “wow, you’re beautiful. You’re handsome. I love your suit. You have a wonderful smile.” They’re life-giving because with those comments, they give life, right? They put you back in the game and show you that you that it’s not over yet. They could be full of love, or they can be ridiculously boisterous. Loud, obnoxious, too much tension, then they disappear as what happened to me 8 years ago with someone who was life-giving and purposeful (will post the link to the podcast down below).
Purposeful Relationships
This is the hard one. This is the one where an individual comes into your life to fulfill a purpose. Example, I had a friend name Yunita back in 2009, who had an immense amount of problems clinging onto her from her past boyfriend, but I could relate (giving my ex dumped me at the dawn of the New Year) at the time. Having ended a relationshipsI thought was going to go the distance, it took months before that “first love” was off my conscious, and there was a specific night during a NCAA National Championship game (North Carolina vs Michigan State) when she came into my life and everything changed. We both had the same problems and we got over them together…..and when we did, the relationship forever took a turn. There was no excitement or spark left until one day during the last game of the NBA Championship two months later, we got into a massive argument then BOOM! Done. It started during the collegiate basketball championship and ended during the NBA championship. What a coincidence. However, it was suppose to happen. Too much noise and too much complaining, but she was there to only fulfill that purpose which was ultimately fulfilled.
The Notable
As I’ve talked about an insane amount of times, my Japanese friend traveled from Kyoto, Japan to visit me in Las Vegas, Nevada for 8 days. That was a purposeful relationship, too. Why? She made me promise that I would come see her abroad, and I fulfilled that purpose a year later, which ultimately changed the trajectory of my life forever. On the other hand, when I got there, the feelings weren’t there between her and I and resulted in a tragic ending of our relationship. It wasn’t her who I was chasing, though – it was the idea of traveling abroad, and here I am in Thailand having an amazing time.
See how these relationships work?
Podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/11845772
Arsenio's ESL Podcast 
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