Viewing entries tagged
listening

How To Have a Conversation With Someone Who Won’t Open Up

How To Have a Conversation With Someone Who Won’t Open Up

When another person won’t open up, it’s often because they don’t feel safe to do so. Maybe you’ve had this conversation before, and it didn’t end well. Maybe you’ve made your views painfully clear, and your views felt a little painful! Maybe the person fears how you’ll respond. There are a number of ways to handle this.

How To Have a Difficult Conversation

How To Have a Difficult Conversation

When we avoid hard conversations, problems go unaddressed, and tensions rise. These three principles help me to approach difficult conversations with humility and grace.

How Can I Speak in a Way That Reaches My Child?

How Can I Speak in a Way That Reaches My Child?

I was on a road trip with my two sons and something they said led me to share a very personal story. I went into detail about what happened, what I’d learned, and how it had such an impact on me. As I came to the end, I looked over at my sons, half-hoping to see wide-eyed expression of wonder and awe. They were both fast asleep! Communicating with children is hard. Let me share some tips from the Bible about how to speak in a way that reaches your child.

Is This Why People Have Stopped Listening to What Christians Have to Say?

Is This Why People Have Stopped Listening to What Christians Have to Say?

I took a listening test this week. No, it wasn’t a hearing test. My ears are fine. But I wanted to test my listening. The test was developed by Doug Pollock, author of the book, “God Space.” Pollock serves as an evangelist and chaplain but has equipped thousands of Christians to share their faith more effectively. He questions whether non-Christians in our society today have stopped listening to Christians because Christians have been such poor listeners. Ouch! Let me share what I learned.

5 Ways to Make Your Conflicts More Constructive

5 Ways to Make Your Conflicts More Constructive

Two weeks ago, in my post, “How to have it out without making it worse,” we began to look at Brian Orme’s advice on how to deal with conflict. We covered the things he warns to avoid in marital disputes. The reality is that there are things we can do that inevitably hurt rather than help our chances of resolving issues that come up in marriage. Today we look at the positive side: his list of things to do to make our clashes more constructive.