Friday; August 11

Have you ever failed to help someone who was struggling because you didn’t know what to say? I think there are a lot of times when we can see people who are hurting or who have been impacted by tragedy, but we shy away from them because we just don’t know how to approach them. We feel inadequate in our ability to say the right things to heal their hurt. While this is a common fear, the truth is that few of us know the right words to mitigate the impact of their crisis. There are no magic words that will make them forget nor is there some formula that will undo what they have experienced.

So now that we have removed the invisible barrier that separates us from this hurting, here are a couple things to try. First of all, don’t try to say something to make them feel better, give them a chance to tell you why they feel bad. One of the most effective ways to deal with emotional pain is to be able to talk about it, but too few people get the opportunity to tell their story or express their pain. When we ask someone to tell us about their experiences, we can begin to facilitate healing. A second thing we can do is find some way to help them get through today. Maybe it is picking up their children from daycare, providing a meal for the evening, volunteering to fill their car with gas – or any number of other simple, concrete ways to help – we can not only solve a problem, we can also a build an emotional bond that allows them to know we care about them.

Let’s worry less about what we can say and focus more on what we can do. We’ll never be able to stop traumatic events from happening but we might be able to help people navigate through them until they can find the light at the other end of the tunnel.

Think About It!

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