Communication Skills
Ask “What” Questions – Get better responses
Learn to ask well-crafted “What” questions and you will get better responses without sparking controversy or hurt feelings.
September 27, 2023
Of Crooked Trees and Long Roads
A collection of thoughts and stories about life experience and lessons learned at the intersection of faith and culture by a late-blooming Southern Appalachian transplant.
— Susan Millsaps, Author – Christian blogger
Categories
Communication Skills
Wrongly Right: My futile merry-go-round
The “wrongly right” logical misstep: To escape the futile merry-go-round of circular arguments, don’t assume that you are right when offended..
September 15, 2023
Communication Skills
My Seven Million Whys -That got me nowhere
We expect “why” questions from toddlers, but in adult conversations “why questions spark contention, not amicable discussions, and get you nowhere in relationships.
August 25, 2023
Historical Events
99.9% Similar but Still Conflicted
Since our shared 99.9% DNA makes us so similar, why do humans hyper-focus on our differences, especially those that spark conflicts?
Imagine a routine doctor’s appointment like this one:
July 12, 2023
Historical Events
Ancient Stones or Hallowed Ground?
My Unintentional pilgrimage in search of hallowed ground among the ancient stones in Israel and reflecting on Jesus’s suffering and victory at his empty tomb in Jerusalem.
January 15, 2021
Life Events
2020 in our Rearview Mirror – Celebrating detours and delays
Celebrating in detours, and delays in a Covid-19 year We made it! At last, we are viewing 2020 in our rearview mirror. Widespread comments testify that folks are relieved for the detours and delays of 2020 to be over. Even as new strains of COVID-19 start showing up, anticipation for a better year in 2021
January 2, 2021
Emotions and Relationships
Confident Love ~ pouring through hearts
Surprised by confident love. Finding that God’s faithful, steadfast love had replaced doubt and neediness in my heart and relationships.
November 10, 2020
Emotions and Relationships
Emotional Stability and Endurance- beyond comfort zones
Lack of emotional stability and endurance significantly affects our overall function in everyday life. Learn it outside your comfort zone.
September 12, 2020
Life Events
Acts of God: How good is your insurance coverage?
Consider the irony of insurance policies coverage for acts of God in a world that denies his role in creation and protests his presence.
September 3, 2020
Conflict Resolution
What the World Craves: Peace or Chocolate?
Does the world genuinely crave peace, or is our craving brain satisfied with coffee, sweets, or not being bothered by people? Can we find the way of peace?
August 28, 2020
Family
My Self-Identified Hometown: Finding Kin and Kinship
I made the mistake of typing this phrase into a Google search last week: “how to find my kin.”
After thirty-plus years of researching my family’s historical roots, my family tree is bursting with kinfolk. I have even dispelled a few family myths and quietly tucked one family skeleton in the closet. I was not prepared to be introduced to any other kin.
July 17, 2020
Emotions and Relationships
Defacing the Past Cannot Erase the Pain
Acts of violence are breeders of anguish. For all the days that man has walked on the face of planet earth, it has been so. No epoch in human history exists where acts of violence, slavery, abuse, and suffering were absent. Forced labor from conscripted, indentured, and enslaved workers built the wonders of the ancient
June 25, 2020
Emotions and Relationships
Watching in Late Winter
In late winter, I watch. My garden seems silent, but it is not sleeping. Every twig on every branch of each tree and bush work, unnoticed by most. Together, my trees and I watch as the sun regains its strength. Winter solstice is past. So, the sun begins its journey a bit higher each morning,
March 6, 2020
Emotions and Relationships
My Crooked Tree
Reflections on Epiphany Day of my winding journey to a Southern Appalachian front porch and the crooked tree that pictured my growing pains along the way.
January 8, 2019
Don’t Give Up on Love!
Don’t give up on Love! Whether you are a romantic or a cynic this Valentine’s Day, whether you feel that love has passed you by or been wrenched from your grasp…it is never time to give up on love. But, it may be time to rethink it. What were you looking for – hoping for
February 14, 2018
In Honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2018
In honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2018, Seventy-third anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau: my sincere hope is that we will never forget their suffering or the philosophies and choices that allowed it to occur. This post is a revision of a previous article written to commemorate
January 28, 2018
