Friends can feel like the infrastructure of our lives, our sounding board, our pick me up. They can also give us enormous pain when they are lost, like any connected, loving relationship. Take those that stay, say goodbye to those that go, but don't lose sight of your ability to make connections and that sometimes in life, what fits one period, doesn't fit another.

I have had some real friendship tests recently. In Paris you meet many expats who then go back home. Perhaps I am calling into my life these wandering minstrels to teach me to deal with change or I am attracted to foreign cultures. Either way it has been a learning curve.

Friendship is one of the phenomena that evolution psychology has long had in its sights. Charles Darwin himself pondered the adaptive advantage of sympathy in The Descent of Man, though it worried him it must come from a 'low motive', namely survival.

Most people believe they have five or fewer friends they can count on in a crisis, despite having hundreds listed on social networking sites, new rese...

Losing weight is hard. Trying to eat the right foods, be more active and still keep up with your daily routine can be overwhelming, and staying motivated through the difficult days can seem like an impossible task.

Doing Good is a simple and universal vision. A vision to which each and every one of us can connect and contribute to its realisation. A vision based on the belief that by doing good deeds, positive thinking and affirmative choice of words, feelings and actions, we can enhance goodness in the world.

I can't help noticing that a lot of self-help advice is not actually that useful. Being inspirational is all very well, but being told, for example, "stop worrying" and "stop blaming other people for your problems" and "you can't love others till you love yourself" is getting a bit grating.

Yes, my birthday is two days before Christmas. Not even remarkable enough to be Christmas Eve or the actual day itself. Oh no. It's the last 'normal' day before the big event. The world and his wife are Christmas shopping, arguing in Debenhams about what size pyjamas to buy Auntie Pat.

When John Lennon said that life was what happened when you were busy making other plans, he was being wildly optimistic. Life, all too often, seems to be governed by the day-to-day texture of niggles, anxieties and minor worries.

And the fact is, we live in a world where our newspapers are constantly taken over by drama; our free time is (mainly) spent watching famous-sorts bicker and tell stories in the jungle/on a judging panel/at the High Court - we can't help it. We're drawn to the tawdry details; the naughty bits that should be kept secret; the bare, naked details. As humans, we seem to be programmed that way.

You once threw a sheep at me. It was quirky, fun. We spent most of our free time together and you made me feel part of something. But now it's something I want to back away from. It's gone a bit weird. I used to be so excited when it was time to come and see you, but now I wince.

I am a demanding friend I do admit. I expect too much. I always did. As a child I'd be terribly disappointed when a playdate was cancelled or when Maisy or Poppy decided she was no longer my best-est friend.

Scientists have discovered a direct link between the number of Facebook friends a person has and the size of their grey matter. Researchers from th...

The thing with friendships is that they level out. They stay still for years and exist as a given. That is the nice thing about them, they just 'are'. You come and go from them, spending time together but then spending time apart and it just remains as is.

Drinks on the house and in my handbag.... http://thoughtsfromrandomwoman.blogspot.com/2011/08/one-with-free-bottle-of-wine.html...

Thought you were doing him a favour by making the effort to get along with his friends? According to the latest study you could be doing your relation...