This post is the first of several planned on the subject of conversations, and continues a thread started seven years ago. You can read those posts HERE and HERE.
Reading “The Six Conversations: Pathways to Connecting in an Age of Isolation and Incivility.” affirmed many previously held understandings about conversations and their role in healthy relationships.
My introduction to Heather Halleman and “The Six Conversations” came via a “No Small Endeavor” podcast . The podcast is an excellent and convenient introduction.
After hearing :
“The most loving thing we can do is have meaningful conversations.” I was hooked.
The Six Conversations supplies fresh insights into the nature and character of conversation and provides much needed skills and methods essential for loving conversations.
In 2019 Michael Frost called for a “conversational revolution”; that need has only increased.
…61 percent of young people today report feelings of “serious loneliness” (only heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic)
“The Six Conversations”: pg.10
…Nearly half of Americans report sometimes or always feeling alone (46 percent) or left out (47 percent).
…One in four Americans (27 percent) rarely or never feel as though there are people who really understand them.
…Two in five Americans sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful (43 percent) and that they are isolated from others.
…One in five people report they rarely or never feel close to people (20 percent) or feel like there are people they can talk to (18 percent)….
…Only around half of Americans (53 percent) have daily meaningful in-person social interactions, such as having an extended conversation with a friend or spending quality time with family.
…Generation Z (adults ages 18–22) is the loneliest generation and claims to be in worse health than older generations.
If you’re wondering why [conversations] matter so much, answer these questions:
“The Six Conversations”: Pathways to connecting in an age of isolation and incivility by Heather Holleman
When was the last time someone asked you a question that invited you to truly open your heart in conversation?
How close do you feel to your spouse? Your children? Your best friends? How close do you feel to your neighbors and coworkers?
Do you find you don’t know how to draw people into conversation, and if you can, would you describe these conversations as “warm” and “connected”?
Have you ever been with another person, and this person failed to ask you one meaningful question about your life?
Following are some thoughts and ideas which arose in the course of reading “The Six Conversations” and re-reading my posts. Future posts will address them and other aspects conversation..
- I wrote in 2020, “For me, conversation has been a life preserver. I am deeply thankful for family, friends and acquaintances with whom I have had conversations during the recent days and months. Conversations matter. Thank you.” That continues to be true. Our time is Florida is filled with meaningful conversations, Our front porch in Wilmore is a great venue for conversations. Conversation is an energy drink for my soul.
- I am of the opinion loving conversation should be a spiritual practice; because, when lacking mitigates the efficacy of traditional practices —prayer, fasting, simplicity, silence, solitude, service, giving, Bible study, et al.
- Loving conversation is a primary tool in the evangelism toolbox. In a loneliness filled society, loving conversations are catnip for lonely people. “The training people most wanted didn’t involve more theology or more inspiration; the training people most wanted was how to have a loving conversation.”
- There is the risk of loving conversation becoming the end in itself rather than a means to deeper, meaningful relationships.
- “The Six Conversations” reveals…a strategy …that works to achieve warm relationships. It’s a strategy and accompanying skill set rooted in research, framed by the wisdom literature in the Bible, and implemented immediately and easily to improve friendships, romantic partnerships, family relationships, and work life.
- The four most critical things to do to foster a warm and connected conversation:
Be curious
Believe the best
Express concern
Share your life
I’m looking forward to more posts on Conversations Matter. I very much encourage you to listen to the podcast and read “The Six Conversations”.
STILL ON THE JOURNEY