How to Comfort and Encourage

• To take the best care of others, first take care of your own emotional and physical needs. Part of this is listening to yourself in the same way you would listen to others. Think of yourself as an amateur counsellor who helps people help themselves. Marc provides a nice list of counsellor qualities on page 147.
• Here are some general tips from this chapter. Overwhelmed people are often trying to do too many things at once. Big tasks can seem less overwhelming if they can be broken into smaller tasks. People aren’t good at tasks they don’t perform often. Often just describing one’s feelings can have a calming effect. Acknowledge people’s fears. Making fears more tangible can make them less frightening. If it’s necessary to be available later on, be sure to be there and follow up. You also need to know when to stop so you don’t breed dependency. Sometimes the best you can do is suggest that the person see another trusted advisor or a professional.

Share this: