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Relationships at Work Enrich Us When We Do This

By John Certalic on September 2, 2020 0

Relationships at work enrich us when we listen for the threads of love and joy, fear and guilt, woven into the lives of the people we work with. It’s something we can all listen for.

As we look forward to Labor Day just a few days from now, we can honor the holiday by making an effort to enrich our relationships with the people we work with.

One way is to be observant and pay attention to those emotional threads our colleagues at work reveal to us. It’s to be a good listener. And listening starts with noticing the emotional clues we discover in our relationships at work.

Here’s a poem by James A. Autry that sums this up well.

5 Books to Help Improve Our Relationships

By John Certalic on August 26, 2020 0

Books help to improve our relationships when we set aside time to read them. Here are 5 books I read this summer and how they helped me with ideas to make my relationships better. They can help you, too. [Read more…] about 5 Books to Help Improve Our Relationships

How to Age Well. Learn About it Here.

By John Certalic on August 19, 2020 0

To age well is to become more self-aware. It’s to become editor of our thoughts and behavior, and to nurture humility that squelches our pride.

To age well is to proofread our words before they come out of our mouth, and before we post them on Facebook. To age well is less about what happens to us physically and more about how we manage our relationships.

I found this prayer from centuries ago about how to age well that we would all be wise to pray. Maybe we could incorporate it in the order of service on Sunday morning. [Read more…] about How to Age Well. Learn About it Here.

Listen to People if You Want to Help Them

By John Certalic on August 12, 2020 2

Listen to people if you want to help them. It’s the most helpful thing you can do. It’s far more effective than giving advice.

When you listen to others it allows them to talk things out, and helps them define what’s going on inside.

Giving advice makes you feel better, but it makes them feel worse.

Listening to people makes them feel better, but may make you feel worse.

Because you want to come to their rescue. You want to be a hero. You want to make their problem go away. And you’ll feel inadequate when you can’t.

But people don’t need to be rescued. They just need you to listen. [Read more…] about Listen to People if You Want to Help Them

When People Annoy You – What to Do Next

By John Certalic on August 5, 2020 0

When people annoy you it can say more about us than it does about the person we find irritating. We wish they'd change, but maybe we ourselves are the ones who should change.

I talked about this in episode 20 of You Were Made for This.

Several weeks after it first aired I heard from Rebecca, a missionary serving in Indonesia, who apparently was dealing with this “when people annoy you” issue. It wasn’t so much related to her, as it was with several other people, including another missionary. [Read more…] about When People Annoy You – What to Do Next

Ask Someone What They are Feeling

By John Certalic on July 29, 2020 1

Asking someone what they are feeling will draw people closer together. Read here how to deepen your relationships by going beyond the events in people's lives.

I found myself thinking about this relationship principle several years ago when my adult daughter gave me an unusual gift. [Read more…] about Ask Someone What They are Feeling

5 Keys to Really Great Family Vacations

By John Certalic on July 22, 2020 0

Great family vacations take careful planning beyond how to get to our destination, and what to pack. Great family vacations pay attention to relationships, and what we can do to nurture them. The five keys to making your family vacation the best ever starts with your family meeting together well before leaving for your trip. [Read more…] about 5 Keys to Really Great Family Vacations

Creative Connecting with Others: A Listener Story

By John Certalic on July 15, 2020 2

Creative connecting with others is one way to ease the loneliness many of us feel during this coronavirus era. A Florida listener to our You Were Made for This podcast shared what she did to cope with feeling isolated from people. She wrote to tell me:

“I enjoyed your podcast today [Episode 60] in which you encouraged listeners to create something. I had the same idea when we first went on quarantine many weeks ago. So I gathered some smooth rocks and painted glossy hearts on them. I had great fun distributing them randomly all over our neighborhood… [Read more…] about Creative Connecting with Others: A Listener Story

Obstacles in a Relationship

By John Certalic on July 8, 2020 0

Obstacles in a relationship are opportunities to reflect the character of God. How we deal with them are occasions to glorify him.

I’ve been thinking about this in the context of an email response to my blog post from June 10th, It’s Still Amazing Out There. [Read more…] about Obstacles in a Relationship

Being Critical of Others Will Humble Us

By John Certalic on July 1, 2020 2

Being critical of others will humble us when we better understand why people do what they do.

I was reminded of this in a humbling moment a few weeks ago. I discovered a robin building her nest ON TOP of a birdhouse I had put up for my feathered friend’s convenience.

A nest not IN the birdhouse, but ON TOP of it. [Read more…] about Being Critical of Others Will Humble Us