An 85-year-old Harvard study found that the most important thing that brings us happiness in life is positive relationships and good friendships.
Maintaining long-term friendships is one of seven practices people need to be happy and healthy, the study found.
Arthur Brooks, a Harvard professor who runs a course on happiness management at this university believes that we need these three friendships to feel happy in life:
Helpful friendships : Think about the relationships you have with the people you work with, or do business with. These relationships tend to be interactive and often bring positive signals to your relationships.
Pleasure-based friendships: This type of relationship is based on mutual admiration because each person derives pleasure from the other. If a person finds his friend humorous and interesting, this is a source of pleasure, and a friendship is likely to be based on the latter.
"Perfect" friendships: Perfect friendships are those between people who have a mutual love for something that not only brings them together, but is also based on virtue. A relationship is perfect not when it is based on utility or pleasure, but when it focuses on improving the other person's circumstances.
"Perfect" friendships are extremely necessary to have in life, in addition to the other two types of friendships, for true satisfaction.
