Category Archives: listening

She Moves in Mysterious Ways [Guest]

A couple of months ago, Mark Pierson (pastor, worship curator, writer, and generally lovely person) wrote this travel reflection on Facebook. I’m sharing it with his permission because it starts with everyday nuisances and ends with profound insights. Read till the end if you are interested in work/not-work balance, the state of the Christian Church, […]

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My Feminist Parenting Humiliation

Oh, the shame! I love the days when my 2.5 year old son gets mistaken for a girl (Yus! No arbitrary gendered fashion advice for us, thanks!), when he plays with a tea-set, or when he says his favourite colour is pink (just the once, and I’ve seen no actual evidence of this, but it’s […]

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6 Golden Tips for Becoming a Great Listener

This is a reworking of an earlier post that was part of the Generous Lent series, just to make it more widely applicable. Feel free to share it around if you think it’s helpful.  A good listener is never short of friends. Some people are naturals at this popular skill, and you might be lucky […]

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Facebook and the Silk Ring of Kvetching

This handy rule for when to complain and to whom has buzzed around my Facebook feed this week, with lots of passionate commendations: When Susan had breast cancer, we heard a lot of lame remarks, but our favorite came from one of Susan’s colleagues. She wanted, she needed, to visit Susan after the surgery, but […]

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I’m Not Bossy, I Just Have Better Ideas

Is ‘bossy’ a sexist term? When did you last hear a boy or man get called ‘bossy’? Thomas (father of a wonderful little girl) put me onto this article by Kathleen Deveny which argues that: We ask girls to walk a fine line between being strong and being likable. It’s a line we typically allow […]

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A Generous Lent, Act 31: Listen

A good listener is never short of friends. Some people are naturals at this popular skill, and you might be lucky enough to know one or two. Plenty of us have to learn the skill of being a good listener, though the kind intention does go a long way, too. The headline ‘act’ for the Do […]

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