From ghosting to emotions to Arabic and Persian literature and religion, Justin and Salah discussed various topics in our final episode of the Friendship Grief series. Tune in to hear their views about obstacles to grief, individual responsibility, and red flags in a friendship.
Episode Timestamp:
00.00: Introduction
05.15: Who can be a good friend?
11.30: Desperate to fit in or simply adaptable?
17.00: Friendship killers
23.00: We befriend those who are curious about us
38.00: On ghosting
44.00: How to respond to being ghosted?
51.00: No such thing as positive or negative emotions
56.30: On faith and responsibility
01.04.00: What about forgiveness?
01.15.00: Obstacles to forgiveness
01.14.00: Why and how friendship is so unique
01.25.00: Proper grief language
01.29.00: On fear and anger
01.37.00: Last words - Acceptance
Alya takes us through her experience of losing her best friend and how she found her healing through therapy.
In this episode, Gurmin shares with Salah her story of losing a 20-year-old Friendship and going through 5 Stages of Grief before making peace with her loss.
Episode Timestamp:
00.00: Introduction
03.30: Early experience of Friendship, heartbreaks, and empathy
06.30: Reciprocity
10.20: Losing a childhood Friend
23.00: Stages of Grief 1: Denial
26.00: Stages of Grief 2 & 3: Anger and Bargaining
29.50: Stages of Grief 4: Depression
32.00: Stages of Grief 5: Acceptance
33.00: Is the Friendship done and dusted with?
45.00: Making & losing Freinds; The Asian context
52.15: Validated by my dog, supported by my husband, and processed it with a Friend
57.40: Grief & Growth
01.08.00: A message to those grieving and those consoling the bereaved
Sooo, we're finally backk!
In this solo episode, Salah takes us through whys of our stagnation, what he's heard about batchmates' friendship losses after graduation, and what Tea Buddies wants to achieve in 2023!
Buckle up and enjoy the rest of your evening with Tea Buddies!
In our fifth episode of the Friendship Stories series, Justin joins me to tell us what makes a true Friend for him, how matters of reciprocity have made him choose his Friends more carefully, and what made some of his Friendships last and some die.
Brace yourself for that and many more while enjoying your scrumptious evening tea and thank you once again for listening to Tea Buddies!
Our conversation timestamps:
0 - 0.35: Introduction
0.35 : Developing Friendships in childhood
3.08 : What makes a true Friend
5.10 : On keeping a close circle
8.20 : "If I don't draw the line for myself, the line will be drawn for me"
10.35 : Reciprocity and kindness in Friendships
18.30 : 'A' best Friend? Or 'the' best Friend? And who they are
30.45 : Expressing your feelings for Friends
40.20 : Should we normalise intimate expressions among guy Friends?
45.42 : Is there a good way to end a Friendship
48.50 : Experiences that stood out 1: Kindness betrayed
55.40 : Experiences that stood out 2: As genuine as it could get
In this forth episode of Friendship Stories series, my friend Melinda joins me to share her experience of Friendship before and after she moved to Australia. We will be talking about what changed Melinda's perspective on Friendship after leaving her home country, her idea of best friendships, and how she goes about the hierarchical nature of her friendships.
Brace yourself for that and many more while enjoying your scrumptious evening tea and thank you once again for listening to Tea Buddies!
Out conversation timestamps:
0 - 0.34: Introduction
0.34 : Friendship, what comes to mind?
2.45 : First time taking the initiative to make Friends
7.45 : "You invest more, when it's you initiating the Friendship"
9.45 : On reciprocity
12.00 : 'A' best Friend? Or 'the' best Friend?
16.30 : On respect, boundaries, and being happy for one another
20.15 : Drama in Friendships
27.00 : What differentiates levels of Friendship
30.00 : What degrades Friendships
35.10 : On transparency, genuineness, and authenticity in hierarchical Friendships
41.20 : Experiences that stood out: "Jealousy made me raise my bar of Friendship"
46.30 : Concluding words
Today's episode is a collaboration between Tea Buddies and Mind Matters Network.
In conjunction with world suicide prevention month, we have invited Dr Alvin Ng, a professor of psychology and the Associate Dean for the School of Medicine and Life Sciences at Sunway University to discuss the protective role of friendship against suicide.
Our conversation's timestamps:
0 - 1.00: Intro
1:00: What stats tell us
3.52: Protective role of Friendship
12:00: We don't appreciate rejection
12:55: It's the connectedness that matters
13:50: How many Friends, or how meaningful?
15:45: The threshold of meaning
16:40: On having several best friends, instead of only one
18:13: The language we use; best Friends? or becoming Friends?
21:00: Our definitions of a best Friend and how it affects our Friendship
23:12: Tackling the issue of making Friends amidst online learning
28:50: Taking care of ourselves when approaching a suicidal Friend
In this Chamomile episode, Bradley will take us back in the past and on to the future with our memories of Friendship in Time... Hope you enjoy this poem!
Friends In Time; by Bradley Sim Whye Kit
Oh friends,
When I think on the fact
That we can spend Time together
My heart is sent leaping in joy.
It is some stabled stallion
Let loose in a prairie,
A blooming dawn
To a night once dreary.
What a gift
And a blessing itself.
When we banter and play,
Talk and parley
Gather where we might gather
To keep the many storms at bay.
I always used to find myself,
Stepping back,
Holding my breath,
Wishing for time to stop
So I could capture all these golden moments
And store them in my memory bank.
I’ve long since left that delusion behind
Instead intently focusing,
No halfheartedness here,
On the joys of our present living.
For,
Time spent together is no Time wasted at all,
For what is life but a shadow
Gone-by
By the passing whim of the sun’s movement
Overhead.
Overjoyed --
Though our emotions are not always on display --
We are the flames to each other’s wick,
And though we speak in passing tongues
Our unsung song is a choir of good times past,
Good times present,
And good times still yet to come.
So where should we be
But in this passing gift of togetherness?
Let us,
Hold fast through the bitterness
Of life and struggles
Through ash and rubble
While we build and rebuild,
When our worlds come crashing down,
Remember,
You are here,
And we are all here.
Together in Time,
As we pick each other up
from the ditches where we’ve fallen,
Brushing off the dirt
we remember what’s important,
Though our rhythms are not always in line,
We still march to the same beat of life.
And oh friends,
what a melody we’ll make of it.