Quick answer: When someone won’t listen to another opinion, arguing rarely helps. A simple pen-and-paper exercise called “two trees” — where you and the other person each draw a tree, then notice that both are valid even though they look different — can open a locked mindset by making the […]
communication
12 posts
We hear words every day. Some words can carry an energy that hurts, but there are also words that heal. Let’s focus on words that heal and not hurt. It wasn’t just the words they said; it was the energy behind them that truly cut me to shreds. It was […]
There are all sorts of people in this world, and there are also all sorts of balls. If you could describe yourself as a ball, what type of ball would you be? Wrecking ball to table tennis ball. I have vague memories of the first ball I ever had. […]
There is an internal world to every one of us with words that need sharing, but it’s hard to put into words, so we need someone safe to help us. They wanted him to tell them what was going on inside, but it felt more like he was in the […]
When no one understands you, it can create a deep sense of loneliness. Perhaps there are reasons for the lack of being known. Forgive them anyway. They were carrying something precious. Their inner world. Thoughts, feelings, motivations, desires, pains, and joys. Everything that goes on within their life and sometimes […]
Criticism can hurt, bruise, and extinguish our hearts, but learning how to handle criticism can build new strength and resilience. I could see the hope drain out of him as I watched both the subtle and not-so-subtle criticisms land upon him. I was in a meeting with a guy I […]
We all have a secret garden. A place we don’t want others to go near, but with three little words, we can build a bridge and not a wall. I had been having a conversation with someone, and then suddenly, I felt the protection of a wall. The conversation changed, […]
We can have an overreaction to life’s events, but when we search out what’s behind the reaction, we often find history-based pain. Let’s help the prickly pear. It was a reaction I wasn’t expecting. I had made a few jokes, and their response wasn’t to have a simple laugh with […]
Messages can be messy. We say one thing, they hear another, but we need to be heard so we need to learn about filters and speak with grace and compassion. The message I heard was probably not the message they wanted to send. Who got it wrong? Over the past […]
Criticism comes to us all, but we can grow through it. We need to listen, ask questions and learn how to handle it with dignity. They knew what was going to happen even before they got home. They were going to have to run through a gauntlet of criticism. Where […]