The Art of Happiness

will also begin to disappear. On the other hand,there is another kind of friendship. Friendshipsthat are based not on considerations of wealth,power, and position but rather on true humanfeeling, a feeling of closeness in which there is asense of sharing and connectedness. This type offriendship is what I would call genuine friendshipbecause it would not be affected by the status ofthe individual’s wealth, position, or power,whether it is increasing or whether it is declining.The factor that sustains a genuine friendship is afeeling of affection. If you lack that, then youwon’t be able to sustain a genuine friendship. Ofcourse, we have mentioned this before and allthis is very obvious, but if you’re running intorelationship problems, it’s often very helpful tosimply stand back and reflect on the basis of thatrelationship.