April Word of the Month:
Friendly

Friendly..... it seems like a word with such an obvious meaning. I consider myself friendly. at least I thought I was. I Googled the word friendly.Synonyms like affable, approachable, demonstrative,gregarious and outgoing stood out.

Hmmmm,maybe I am not as friendly as I thought I was? 

I am a good friend.If I look back over the last 3 words of the month,and use them as a standard to assess my friendship ability, I would consider myself a good friend,Trustworthy,Loyal and Helpful.
Being a good friend is not the same as being friendly.
More synonyms: affectionate,easygoing,communicative,sociable.
My goodness, I don't really think I am all that friendly!
At least I have not been in the past. I have often been standoffish,quiet, reserved,unflappable,and sullen.
I would get annoyed when I was accused of not smiling.
I often felt left out.
I never felt like I was a part of the group,more like I was adjacent to any gathering of friends.
This is still a work in progress for me. I am beginning to understand that I play a significant role in this. I am learning how to be friendly. No doubt I know how to be a friend. My challenge is to become friendly.
My mentor Darren Hardy  offered up a great lesson on this recently. The message was simple.
 Be First!
When you meet someone, be first to shake a hand .
 Be first to say hello. 
Be first to say "Hi my Name is David! What's yours?"
Some other tips:
Sit in the front row!
Be first to the buffet and invite others to join you.
Hold open doors and acknowledge the other person.
Stand up straight!
Dress nicely.
Greet everyone!
And for goodness sakes smile!
Smile like you are happy.
Smile like you mean it!
Smile because you can!
It is amazing just how friendly a smile can be.
I saw a picture of my friend Kevin on Facebook.
Okay....he's a friendly guy!
Kind of makes me jealous.How does he do it? We've been friends for well over 40 years. You would think some of that would have rubbed off by now!
Maybe I listened to the wrong kind of music...there's nothing friendly about Simon and Garfunkel's "I am a rock"or 'Sounds of Silence".
Whatever it was that has kept me from being friendly in the past is changing. I now understand that being friendly has nothing to do with being a friend.I even know people who come off as friendly who are as shallow and disingenuous as one can possibly be.They aren't friends,they are just friendly (Some people call them politicians!)
I honestly believed they were one in the same. Today I understand the difference.
I have no reservations as to how good I am at being a friend. That is an undeniable fact.
Being friendly?
I must admit.....I still have a lot of work to do there.

There's probably a book in there somewhere....
"The Art of Being Friendly"

HMMMMMM!