What is the right thing to say?

Many people struggle to find the right words when faced with a friend or colleague going through tough times. It’s so tempting to respond by saying things like “I know exactly how you feel” or “Oh yes that reminds me of the time when…”. We don’t mean to shut down or take the focus off the other person, but inadvertently we do.

There are numerous articles that discuss this common communication problem and here are a couple that provide simple approaches that can help us all to handle such conversations better in the future…

• How not to say the wrong thing: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-xpm-2013-apr-07-la-oe-0407-silk-ring-theory-20130407-story.html
• Why we should all stop saying “ I know exactly how you feel” https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-should-all-stop-saying-i-know-exactly-how-you-feel/

These are just some of the useful resources that can be found in the Podcasts, Talks, Books, Film & Articles to Ignite Conversation, Inspire & Comfort section of the Great Southern Compassionate Communities toolkit.