Empowering people to make strengthening choices
Imagine that Trish, an 8th grader, comes home from school and throws her books on the floor. Mom responds, “Hey, you don’t throw books. You come and pick these up, right now, young lady.” Trish turns and runs up to her room in tears, ignoring her mom’s, “Get back here.” An Anxious Mom Fuming and […]
In my last blog posts, I’ve made a distinction between communication that is harmful and weakening vs. helpful and strengthening. It is powerful to be aware of this distinction. As you recognize your tendencies that are weakening and purposefully choose to communicate in ways that are strengthening you will not only improve the quality of […]
Hi my friend, In truth, we are always communicating, verbally and nonverbally, when in the presence of others. Our words, gestures, facial expressions, tone of voice all matter and affect those around us. So a question I want to pose to you today is, what is the impact of your communication? Is your communication helpful or […]
I believe that communication is one of the key factors determining our success and how well how we navigate the world around us. Our ability to relate to other people, get things done, and develop close and healthy relationships can all be thought of as a function of our communication. Therefore, by improving how we […]
Hi friends, Frankly, there is nothing (or little) more important than our relationships. It is our relationships that bring us joy (and heartache) and give our lives meaning. A primary reason is that we are interdependent. None of us lives or works in isolation but in a community (family, team, neighborhood, nation, etc.) with other […]
I recently received a question from a student in my course “Become a Master at Conflict Management at Home or Work.” She asked, “How can I prevent my ego from getting in the way when my husband attacks me at the start of our conversation?” She went on to tell me that he snapped at […]
I’ve been writing a lot about building relationships in these last several articles. Today I want to explore the practice of setting healthy boundaries. Not only do good relationships require empathy and caring for others but also taking care of ourselves or even sometimes protecting ourselves from others. I don’t mean protecting ourselves because others […]
Someone recently asked me what I lessons I have learned as I look back on my career. I thought about his question and realized that I would have asked for more mentoring and even emotional support. Many of us think that we have to go it on our own. Even during adversity, we think we […]
