When emotions rise, rational thinking usually plummets. This is why I summarized the key principles in my book, The Peacemaker, as simple acrostics, such as the Seven A’s of Confession and the Four Promises of Forgiveness, which people can recall and apply even when emotions are clouding their judgment. Having seen the benefit of these
A few days ago, a friend asked me if relational wisdom isn’t simply “being nice.” He’d recently read my “Serving a Barista” post, which gave him the impression that relational wisdom applies only to the easy, pleasant encounters of life. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” I told him. Not that it doesn’t apply
There is one thing you must do in order to judge others, hold a grudge or indulge bitterness. You must constantly affirm yourself as being morally superior to the person you are condemning. You must think … “I have the right to judge you, because I am morally superior to you.” “I have the right
The following article is adapted from an article I wrote in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. I have revised it in light of the debate regarding Syria. While the geographical focus has changed from the U.S. to the Middle East, many of the issues and peacemaking principles remain the same. The recent use of
Do you want to learn how to connect with people? Really connect? To touch others heart-to-heart, life-to-life? To convince them you understand and care about them? To move them toward actions that are right and good and pleasing to God? Then learn how to connect with their hearts by describing experiences that trigger godly emotions.
This is an awareness test. It takes only 50 seconds … but it could change your life (if video screen does not appear below, click here). Debrief If you missed the moon walking bear, you experienced a process known as “selective perception,” which is the unconscious filtering of what we see and hear so as
This is a test. Watch the following two minute video clip and decide which person you sympathize with the most.
Would you like to improve your relational skills? Better yet, would you like the people around you to join with you in developing relational wisdom? If so, you can be the trigger for such growth. How? Host a Seminar First, you could host a Discovering Relational Wisdom Seminar in your church, business, or ministry. This
Many of us have no idea how often we wound the people around us. We don’t deliberately set out to hurt others, but because of our natural insensitivity, we frequently stomp on others’ dreams and feelings without even realizing it. The following video clip illustrates this problem … and how to correct it. It’s taken
A devastating tornado and a shocking murder. The last things any of us would ever want to experience. And yet as the following video clip illustrates, it was in the midst of such great suffering that a family from Iowa demonstrated astonishing love. I pray that God will use this true story to change how