I'm curious about your thoughts on attending events with other people. Why would this help?

I once read somewhere that being a friend means seeing a person in at least three different contexts. Going to a meditation event together with people from my local LessWrong meetup increases the feeling of friendship between me and the other LW'ler.

If I dance Salsa with a girl that I first meet at a Salsa unrelated birthday party it feels like there a stronger friendship bond than if I just see her from time to time at Salsa events.

It's important to interact with people in different contexts if you want to build a friendship with them.

(I could be much more specific if you'd like to help me out more, but I'd prefer to take that to a private message.)

I can't promise that I have useful advice before knowing the specifics, but I'm happy to take my shoot.