Maintaining friendship

Friendship is a feeling of love and affection of one person for another. This feeling of love must be reciprocated. Otherwise friendship cannot be possible. Friendship does not exist where tastes, feelings and sentiments are not similar.

The famous essayist Bacon has warned against the friendship between a very rich person and a very poor person. Economic disparity damages friendship. Thus friendship is a feeling of affection between two likeminded persons of uniform status.

It is said that a friend in need is a friend in deed. There may be many friends at the time of prosperity. But most of them desert at the time of adversity. We can examine the sincerity of a friend during our time of hardship and trouble. Only a sincere and faithful friend remains with us at the time of our trouble. All others leave us. It is very painful when our friends turn traitors.

Money is an enemy of friendship. Everybody has an attraction for money. When lending or borrowing of money is done between two friends, there is great risk. Friendship may be affected. So it is wise for true friends to avoid monetary transaction. Vanity is another element which breaks friendship. Everybody has self-respect. When a person tries to criticise his friend, their friendship is affected. So friendship must be treated very delicately.

Very often some hypocrites pretend to be friends. They are more dangerous than avowed enemies. By telling soft words they bring enormous ruin to us. A true friend never exploits. He rather surrenders. But at present, the meaning of friendship has changed.

There are many fair-weathered friends. They terminate their friendly tie as soon as their interests are fulfilled. It is very difficult to find a true friend today. It is better to establish true friendship with either a dog or an elephant. Both these beasts will remain faithful to their human friends. Today, friendship between two persons is short-lived.

Good friends exercise good influence. They always help their friends, in distress and inspire them to walk on the right path. But evil friends ruin us completely.

In public eye: speeches and presentations

Now most of us feel quite nervous before we speak in public. You'll feel better if you spend some time dealing with the tension. It's a good idea to try and think about what it is that's making you feel this way. That why you can have some control over it. Next try and locate the area of tension in your body. Often it's your neck or your shoulders. Then concentrate on massaging these parts and consciously trying to relax them. Believe me, it works! Let's think about what you say, now. To maximise your performance make sure you are well- prepared. Look over your notes, practise what you want to say, preferably out bud, and then, perhaps most important of all, try to feel you really want to share your subject with your audience, if you feel and share your enthusiasm with them, you're more than half-way there. Remember how people feel about you and what you are saying to them will depend on your body language. There are three main behaviour types: Passive, Aggressive and Assertive. You can use any of these types, although I think the assertive posture is one that suits most occasions best, he passive body type has a withdrawn posture. You may fidget a bit with your hands and hair.

If your posture is aggressive, however, you tend to be quite rigid. You could be constantly swinging your leg or crossing your arms and clenching your fists and the audience will feel uncomfortable. Your voice will often sound harsh or sharp and your audience may then feel quite aggressive towards you and that's something you don't want if your aim is to get them to see your point of view.

Thai brings me to the assertive posture. Now you're standing straight, feeling comfortable and calm with your arms hanging loosely at your sides. In this position there is minimal tension and your voice is full, clear and varied. You're a delight to listen to.

Finally, a few do's and don'ts when it comes to looking after your voice, especially before giving a speech or whatever. It's a bit obvious but avoid smoky areas, and alcohol, too. Drink plenty of fluids, especially things like fruit juice or even coffee or tea and keep your throat moist while you're speaking. Also, interestingly enough, stop eating too many dairy products when you have a cold. It can make you sound worse - and also don't forget to use your lips and tongue carefully to make the words stand out clearly.