Empowering people to make strengthening choices
Empathy is awareness of others, what they are feeling or what life may be like for them. I like to think about two dimensions of empathy. One is perspective taking which is your ability to see something from another’s point of view. A second form of empathy is called empathic concern which is to feel […]
So often we look at people and even interact with them but we don’t really see them. This is something that the columnist David Brooks has talked about lately. He’s been alarmed by the growing isolation and social disconnectedness in our society in recent years. In fact, he’s said, “Many of our society’s great problems […]
In my last post, I talked about the “how” of listening and gave you a set of seven guidelines to become a better listener. Now I want to point to a special case of listening. How do you support someone who is grieving? What do you say or do when someone is going through grief […]
Resistance is common, whether at home or work. You propose an idea and someone pushes back. It’s a good idea, even in their best self-interest and yet they resist. It’s easy to get frustrated and end up entangled in a power struggle that demoralizes everyone and harms the relationship. So, what do you do? Here’s […]
Hi my friend, A mother came to me a few weeks back about her rebellious son who is lying, refusing to spend time with the family, and retreating to his bedroom. She wanted to know what she and her husband should do. Of course, I started by listening. I wanted to show empathy and respect […]
+ I introduced the topic of deep listening in my last blog post. I think of listening as suspending judgment and being fully present with another person to understand his or her experience or point of view. Listening well is one of the best gifts we can give another person. Not only does deep listening […]
Listening is thought of as a soft skill. Perhaps the softest of the soft skills. What’s the big deal, we might ask? We listen every day. It’s something we learned to do as children and it comes naturally. And yet, I’m going to suggest that it is not that easy to learn the skill […]
I had the pleasure of meeting two delightful and inspiring women back in August as I was speaking on the topic of parenting to an audience of 300-400 people. The two of them, Becky Higgins and Becky Proudfit, started a weekly podcast in October 2018 entitled “Cultivate a Good Life.” I was impressed to learn […]
