Making friends comes so easy for some people, but every once in a while even the folks who make friends effortlessly can suddenly find themselves with a smaller social group. If you've never had to go out and find friends, you might just wonder where to begin.

As I've mentioned in the past here, people need to make new friends for all kinds of reasons. Maybe all their friends are getting married, and they want to find another singleton who can do stuff with them. Or maybe you've moved to a new city. Or maybe you've stayed put but most of your friends have moved away. (I can certainly relate to that one!)

Whatever the reason, don't accept a lack of friends as something that you need to suffer through. If you need to make some new ones, do it!

That's why I'm so excited about a new ecourse I've created that is targeted to people looking to make new friends. The class is free (of course!) and can be delivered right to your inbox or viewed online. It's designed to take five weeks from beginning to end, but as I always say, friendships develop at different times, so you are able to take longer on some weeks or speed up and work ahead, too. Do whatever feels right to you.

What a story this is! A six-year old girl in California probably saved her friend's life. I can't imagine doing this when I was six, which shows just how amazing this was, but the girl did the Heimlich Maneuver because her friend was choking on an apple, and the piece of fruit came flying out, allowing her friend to breathe again.

Incredible. What's even more unusual is that the girl said she learned the Heimlich from watching a show on the Disney Channel.

We've always heard so many warning about doing the Heimlich, because obviously you want to help a friend and not harm them. Here's some good info from the First Aid Guide here at About.com on how to do it the right way.

Pardon the Mister Rogers reference there, I couldn't resist.  Several of you have asked me what's the best way to make friends with your neighbors, and I think the first step is just to welcome them to the neighborhood. To that end, I've got five ideas I think you'll like.

If you're like me, you just sort of run your errands and go to work and come home, and never really stop and chat with the people who live near you. We've become a society that craves human contact and yet isn't social. So friending your neighbors, or at least developing a rapport of some sort, is a good thing to do.

When we first moved to our neighborhood, the people across the street popped over with a bottle of wine. They brought their kids, and it was a really lovely way to be welcomed to the neighborhood. Think about it, the only time you usually speak to your neighbors is when there is a problem. Why not make an effort to create some goodwill before that?

I watch all kinds of TV shows, and some of them are entertaining and others are over the top (yet still entertaining), but one thing that rubs me the wrong way is how friendship is sometimes portrayed. This is especially true about women friends.

Now, men and women behave differently in their friendships, and I get that. But it seems like what we see the most are female friendships that are toxic and childish. I think sometimes we can learn a thing or two from what we see on TV, and sometimes... it's just like watching a car wreck.

I'm sensitive to the way females are shown because obviously I write about friendship, I have female friends, I am female, and I want women to treat each other well. To me, this is what being a strong woman is all about. I'd like to see more of that on TV.

I mentioned to you recently that I wanted to read the book What Would Michelle Do? by Allison Samuels. Well, I finally did and enjoyed it. One thing I liked about it was that the book was aimed toward young women and was very positive and encouraging. It offered examples on how to behave in a more positive way, how to be a friend, and even how to determine if you need to move on from friends. I liked the fact that it gave details on these things, because, let's face it, we need more positive and concrete examples. You can read my full review of the book, and if you've read it please feel free to share your own review by clicking the "write a review" link at the top or bottom of the review page.

As for TV, I'd like to see more positive friendships between strong women. Is there a show that has this? What are your thoughts?