Healing Conversations: What to Say When You Don't Know What to Say - Hardcover

Guilmartin, Nance

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787960195 ISBN 13: 9780787960193

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2002

Synopsis

Whether it's the loss of a job, a marriage, or a life, in today's 24/7 world we're increasingly faced with uncomfortable situations where we don’t know what to say yet we're called upon to quickly respond -- online or in person. We may fumble, avoid contact, or simply walk away perplexed, thinking we have done a bad job of responding to our friends, family, neighbors, clients, and co-workers. How do we pause, listen, and offer comfort in those hard moments? Filled with touching stories, this practical guide helps us step into someone else's shoes so that we can empathetically learn how to respond in times of need. The revised compact edition includes a new introduction, index and short reflections at the end of each chapter to help readers become more comfortable and effective when offering or accepting comfort in their demanding lives.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"A tremendously important book that I could have used a hundred times before. Everyone who knows anyone in pain should read this book. It speaks right to the heart of the matter."
—Richard Carlson, author, Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

"Healing Conversations is an extraordinary, comprehensive blueprint for dealing with the slings and arrows of daily, stressful, sometimes hurting life. There are 'healing conversations' for divorce, depression, sadness, separation, anger, and loss. This book offers great comfort."
—Jeffrey Fox, author, How to Become CEO: The Rules for Rising to the Top of Any Organization

"Healing Conversations helps us to find the language of the heart for ourselves and for those whose lives we touch."
—Frances Hesselbein, chairman of the board of governors of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management and past chief executive officer of Girl Scouts of America, USA

"Healing Conversations offers a positive, empathetic approach to helping people in need. It puts them at ease. It also prepares us for how to use a humanitarian approach to disease-that state when those of us who are trying to comfort someone, find ourselves ill at ease. Doctors, nurses, patients, and their families all need this book, right now."
—Rudi Ansbacher, M.D., president, The International Society for Advancement of Humanistic Studies in Medicine

From the Inside Flap

We're often faced with uncomfortable situations where we're at a loss for words. A friend calls to tell you she's lost her job. A colleague's test results confirm it: he has cancer. The neighbors-who are like family-are moving. Your best friend's mother has Alzheimer's. Your spouse's father suddenly dies; she didn't get to say goodbye. Can you help? Should you help? What would be useful? What kinds of boundaries do we respect or lower? How do we pause to listen between the lines of silence to comfort someone who is afraid or in pain? Can we ask for what would comfort us when we are the one having a rough time? And are we able to receive it with grace?
Healing Conversations enables us to provide or ask for a new level of support when facing life's inevitable challenges, transitions, and losses-at work, at home, and in our community. It is a practical guide to help you step into someone else's shoes so that you can offer, ask for, or receive comfort. Reflections at the end of each chapter help you think more deeply about how to incorporate the principles of healing conversations and intentional kindness into your life.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0787960195
• ISBN 13: 9780787960193
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352