The Role of Friends in Happiness: An Overview

Research links contact with nature to mental resilience and life satisfaction, but friendships also play a central role in our happiness. Friends help us to know ourselves, as Aristotle pointed out 2,000 years ago.

Self-awareness, the ability to think about our thinking, is cultivated through choices and virtues such as honesty and courage, building trust. Aristotle distinguished three types of friendship: of interest, of pleasure, and of virtue, with the latter being the most important.

Real friends act as mirrors, helping us see aspects of ourselves that we would not otherwise see. Happiness is linked to living according to reason and virtue, which is achieved with friends who understand and evolve us.

Source: Vita