Saturday, March 26, 2011

How well do you know your friends or your partner?

Don't just know your friend's or partner's qualities — "casual acquaintances" can do that. What requires being closer to them, and what will improve the friendship or relationship, is if you know what they find annoying. (via)

6 comments:

Jason (the commenter) said...

Tell me what you hate and I'll tell you what you are.

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

So: suppose I know that a friend doesn't like my skepticism. Should I try to stop being skeptical? Or should I drop the friend? Or something else -- and what would that be? Are there traits that would more justify the former and traits that would more justify the latter? Which are which?

Jason (the commenter) said...

RAC: Should I try to stop being skeptical? Or should I drop the friend?

Don't just drop them, make them your enemy. Because while knowing what annoys someone makes them a better friend, it also makes them an epic enemy.

Jason (the commenter) said...

If anyone ever wondered if I was trying to annoy them, I was, and it was all so we could be better friends.

Richard Lawrence Cohen said...

Jason: Did it work?

Jason (the commenter) said...

Richard: It's just an excuse, and I don't think it would be very convincing. I also don't think knowing what annoys someone is the key to having a better relationship; or that your life would improve if you made your relationships "better".

This study claims that we're all too superficial, that we need to have more depth. And what does it offer? An easy trick to solve all our problems, ready to be quoted in Cosmo!