Most people think that members of the opposite sex can't be friends without it leading to something more. Platonic friendship is one such type of bonds most people do not understand. – Homer. At the same time, it can be awkward to confront someone in this manner. CARISSA LAWRENCE LIFE... Digital Vision./Photodisc/Getty Images . What is a platonic relationship? Comfort. I see only one way it can remain a healthy platonic friendship. An emotional affair generally starts innocently enough as a friendship. 5. For instance, if you’re someone who finds it difficult to open up to people, you can learn to speak your mind when you’re with a platonic friend. As long as both of you are able to keep things strictly platonic, it can work. Platonic relationships generally involve a deep friendship of non-sexual nature among two heterosexual individuals who may or may not be of the opposite sex. You don’t want to lead them on, and/or you don’t want to make them uncomfortable. In this affair, a girl and a boy can go out together anytime without calling each other girlfriend or boyfriend. – Unknown. Platonic friendship helps you to learn how to listen and communicate properly. Instead, they will describe what they have together as a platonic friendship.   Wish the other person all the best in the future. In case you experience these kinds of feelings but choose to stay friends, your friendship is platonic. Maintain healthy boundaries. Besides mutual admiration, the first requisite of Platonic friendship is a subtle trace of disdain. Likewise, I have really strong friendships with people who are, well, not exactly the coolest people to be with. Here are 17 red flags that you’re either in a danger zone or have already crossed the line into more than just friendship with your “friend.” You wait to share conversations with your friend. 6. In this article, I will tell you why this is a terrible, unrealistic idea to chase a platonic bond with someone you desire romantically. This type of friendship break-up can be good in that it is unambiguous and clear, and you get a chance to voice any issues that you've been holding back on. 3. Having platonic friends who identify as the same gender as your love interests is vital to maintaining a healthy relationship with your partner -- you know, the person … If you feel that it's not mutual and you value having the person in your life, don't act on it and wait it out. With a platonic friend, you can be your true self on your best days and your worst because they will accept you all the same. My girlfriend and I started as friends. Do Things That Encourage the Friendship Without Fueling Intimacy . Step 6: Ignore skepticism Ignore public skepticism. Any type of relationship should be a two-way street, whether it's a platonic, familial, or romantic one. Don't ditch a 10-year friendship simply because your new partner can't handle it. Neither of you is perfect, so there will be times when you get annoyed or even angry with each other. We all want to find a person with whom we can share our truest self. It becomes hard for a platonic boy and girl friends to work if one of them develops feelings of attraction for the other person. Perhaps you give the other person space and time when they enter a new relationship. In a platonic friendship, each party wants whatever is best for the other, regardless of what that might mean for the relationship. They're friends and friends only. When a person is crushing on someone, sometimes it seems like their brain has been hijacked. Platonic relationships—i.e. It’s just the way they take you to a place where no one else can. Sometimes you can’t explain what you see in a person. Don't flirt, hug, kiss, or do anything else that you would do with a date. Someone who gets the ins and outs of how we operate without us needing to say anything. People with desirable traits by society standards don’t necessarily make “good friends” — I believe most of us can vouch for that. I personally value a friendship based on the quality of my bond with the person rather than the qualities of the person. A platonic friendship worth having is one that polishes you both. Stay out of potentially compromising situations, such as being at their apartment late at night without your spouse's knowledge/agreement. Do likewise for your platonic friend's other half where politic. Then one day since it was getting busy at work, I called her after hours. According to Science Daily , “ Platonic love in its modern popular sense is an affectionate relationship into which the sexual element does not enter, especially in cases where one might easily assume otherwise. I had done so several times in the past and she was fine with it. And that’s just what I did with my male friends, one by one. Step 5: Be equal Treat each other as equals in your platonic relationship. Platonic friendship refers to a friendship where two people can feel attracted to each other in theory. So, whether you are the crusher or the crushee, be careful of what you say and do. Often, people seek that connection in a romantic partner, but platonic intimacy can deliver the same powerful bond. It could, if you found someone you were more romantically attracted to, and it blossomed into a relationship. A platonic friendship is not one where the people flirt but don't date. Finding someone who accepts you for exactly who you are and never asks more of you than you can give. My friendship with Thomas Steinbeck, the son of Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck, was happily platonic. Even in preschool, it is natural for boys and girls to develop friendships. I think it would be hard to go in that direction, and then go back to a friendship. Neither person should play a submissive role in the friendship, and both should avoid leading on their friend. But I agree, I feel like you can be attracted to someone and be friends with them, like physically. It does. – Unknown. This article will help you to known about what platonic love is and achieve stronger friendships without the unnecessary confusion of feelings or making your friendship relationship awkward with your friend. We were fine talking in person and over the phone/texting about a variety of topics in a purely platonic sense. They may also experience sexual tension among them at some point. a relationship between two people that entails no sexual feelings nor lewd thoughts but rather plainly just being friends with the person. I confirmed with her that it was OK to do so. His definition of what platonic love is differs from what the modern interpretation is. You may want to spend time with them, but you accept that what is best for them might not be what you want. Confusing that the person is becoming more than just a friend or is it just a feeling? Or you can realize, “Oh, that person is attractive, but my friendship with them is more important.” I think there’s a … My soul loves yours. Ignore naysayers and enjoy your relationship. Disclaimer: If there is absolutely no physical attraction between a male and female, then, I would say, it is possible that they can truly share a platonic relationship. In this situation, simply state that your needs are not being met in the friendship. We reveal different angles of ourselves in different relational dynamics, and if you toss sex into a platonic situation, it could challenge how you perceive a person, as well as how they perceive you. For example, let’s say your friendship has always been cool and easy–chatting over beers or meeting up for spontaneous sushi outings. They are so gah-gah that they might not know that they’re making a fool of themselves. Platonic describes a type of bond that is strictly spiritual and not romantic or physical. Platonic relationships can undermine a marriage if a person is constantly deriding a spouse. We were so close that we were almost like siblings, sharing in … There’ll no doubt be friction sometimes, but it doesn’t break you. The benefits of close friendships, which have no physical or romantic element, go far beyond what you might initially imagine. The person who came up with the concept was the philosopher Plato, whose name makes the term. Sometimes we find ourselves infatuated with someone who we cannot enter a relationship with, and are tempted to strive for a 'friendship' with this person. If a platonic friendship might upset a relationship we hope will be ‘the one,’ we accept different priorities,” Brandt says. The difficulty is not so great to die for a friend, as to find a friend worth dying for. Through investing emotional energy and time with one another outside the marital relationship, the former platonic friendship can begin to form a strong emotional bond which hurts the intimacy of the spousal relationship. Given the above definition of what is a platonic friendship, the only way that this relationship can work is when the man and the woman do not have attraction between them, or if they no longer have attraction feelings. If you try and change your relationship into a "friends with benefits" situation, you will ruin your friendship by pushing the boundaries. But platonic friendship is not only possible, but it’s also extremely healthy in every way you choose to measure it. Ah, mate. close, non-sexual friendships—between men and women can be real and viable and pretty great. “Confiding a problem to a good friend is one thing; making that the basis of a relationship indicates something is not right with the marriage, the friendship or both,” says Brandt. This relationship may continue as a friendship or turn around to be a romantic one. I was sort of trying to help her with the above issues and I genuinely wanted her to be happy. But once a man is attracted to a woman; or the woman is attracted to the man; or both are attracted to each other--the relationship cannot and will never be platonic. If your significant other is too immature to handle the fact that you can be in a platonic relationship with someone else, then perhaps he or she is not the right person for you anyway. His definition of love was one that wasn't about lust, but instead love that would bring you closer to the divine and brought out the best traits. RELATED: 7 Signs Your Friendship Is Turning Into A Full-Fledged Romance. A romantic friendship, passionate friendship, or affectionate friendship is a very close but typically non-sexual relationship between friends, often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond that which is common in contemporary Western societies. The reason is that, you took him/her as your best friend, brother or sister in whom you can confide in. To me, platonic friendships between people who have had feelings for you/you've had feelings for are mostly only awkward if you or the other person makes it that way. While some men and women are able to maintain lifelong platonic friendships, other opposite-sex friendships develop into ... > CLASS ; COLLEGE ; TESTS ; VOCAB ; LIFE ; TECH ; How to Tell When a Friendship Is Turning into Something More. Where there are partners, spouses, lovers, etc., involved, it can be helpful to clear the air with them early on about the nature of your platonic friendship. It applied to all forms of relationships. 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