Helping People: A Guide to Collaborative Conversations

“People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others.”  — Blaise Pascal

Whether you are a “professional” helper or just want to learn how to be more effective in your conversational connection with others, the concepts of Motivational Interviewing can help you frame your words.  The concept was developed by Drs. William Miller and Stephen Rollnick and outlined in their book by the title Motivational Interviewing.  Here is a very brief guide to the fundamentals of helping people change:

Why Care About Homelessness?

This week is the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in the U.S. but with so many tragedies and problems to solve in our world today, why should I care about the homeless? Here are my reasons:

(1.) Caring about homelessness will make you happy.  Really?

“There is only one problem on which all my existence, my peace, and my happiness depend: to discover myself in discovering God.  If I find Him I will find myself and if I find my true self I will find Him.” – Thomas Merton

For some reason, I was hesitant to read this book.  It was recommended to me by a friend and mentor after I explained to him that I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life.  I admitted that I was sort of lost. I had just closed one long chapter of my life and was opening a new chapter that no one else had written for me.  I waited for some direction, some pearls of wisdom from one who had navigated these shallows years before with apparent skill.

A Letter To A Young Soldier on Veteran’s Day

Dear Soldier, Sailor, or Airman,

Thank you for choosing to serve in the military of our nation. This Veteran’s Day, I want you to know you are appreciated. You may have chosen the military as a career.  You may have been forced in by various circumstances in your life. But now, whether by choice or no, you are a part of a unique culture.  Whether you feel like it or not, you are now a member of a brotherhood of warriors. There are some things to know and reflect upon on this day of remembrance.

The Simplicity of True Success

All the answers to the issues of life and the principles of true succes can be summed up in a difficult simplicity:

The Simplicity of Greatness

The silence was deafening—they had been arguing with one another over who among them was greatest.

He sat down and summoned the Twelve. “So you want first place? Then take the last place. Be the servant of all.” (The Gospel of Mark 9:34-35 The Message version)

Believer

If you can do anything, do it. Have a heart and help us!”  

Jesus said, “If? There are no ‘ifs’ among believers. Anything can happen.”  

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the father cried, “Then I believe. Help me with my doubts!” (The Gospel of Mark 9:22b-24, The Message version)

I think of myself as a ‘believer’, but the majority of the time, to be honest, I doubt. When I even get the courage or faith or remember to come to Jesus with my “issues”, I tend to do it with a lot of doubts. Here Jesus corrects a father’s thinking. He comes to Jesus because he must think that Jesus

Experiment in Public Devotion

This is an experiment to publicly write about my daily thoughts and meditations.

“Calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?” –Jesus (Gospel of Mark 8:34-37 The Message version)

Remind myself today that I’m not in the driver’s seat.  Embrace suffering. Don’t lose the “real me”.  Don’t trade anything for my soul today.

Hope for the Homeless

Hope is the first beam of sunlight breaking through the darkness of night. Hope is the “yes” after the oppressive barrage of “no’s”.  Hope is a empathetic ear when you tell someone your story.  Hope is the key to your own apartment when you’ve walked the streets all night for weeks in fear for your life.

In my city there are over 150 veterans who are losing hope. At some point in their life they had hope.  They had enough hope to vow to endure whatever it took to

Checklist For a Simple Life of Excellence

For much of my life, I lived by checklists. Now I’m in a world without checklists, so here’s my attempt to break it down to the essentials of what I need to do every day.