Talk isn't cheap, talk is priceless.

Don't get me wrong-I'm not skitzo or anything, but sometimes I ask my friends for advice when they're not around. Ok, well there are only about three or four people with whom I can do that, and it's not always exactly right. But the approach is more one of "What would ______ say" rather than "What would ______ do?" So even when they're not there, I can still try to think as they would think, see as they would see.

This goes back to the one thing that I value most about my friends, the thing they offer me that I could never get myself-meaningful conversation and different perspectives on life. I will only ever truly see the world through my own eyes. Other people will never be able fully to prove to me that we see the same colors, or that we taste the same food, or that we hear the same tones. But it's when I'm talking to my friends and we can simple have meaningful discussions, the things that make us laugh or cry or angry or excited, our opinions on the world, on other people, that is when I feel the most alive, because we are sharing our lives. When I learn more about others, I learn more about myself.

To my friends, I can only hope I do the same for you.

For more about this topic, check out this article in the Times:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/17/talk-deeply-be-happy/