I Love You, How Can I Help?

I LOVE YOU

This week I got an email from a friend of mine and it was one of the kindest and most helpful emails I have ever received. It was like he sat down to write the email and thought to himself, I love this person, what can I do to help him in ways that he needs to be helped.

And this got me to thinking, what if every time we approached someone, whether by email, or on the street, or even someone very close to us, what if we imagined ourselves saying: I love you, how can I help?

Imagine how this could change the conversations we have. If our first words to each other came from a place of love and service, we could bypass many of the awkward moments in our lives.

But this is so hard to do. And not even just hard to do, it’s hard to remember to do. We all have our own inner monologue guiding us through the day and when we see another person coming, or we enter a room with other people, we very easily blurt out some trivial greeting, or what is on our mind right at that exact moment.

HOW CAN I HELP?

What if we just paused for 2 seconds and silently said: I love you, how can I help?

Then our greeting might not be so trivial. Maybe we would remember that their mother is sick, or they have a huge project due. We could ask them about those things, and then listen.

Listen deeply.

Listen with intent to agree.

Listen for how we can help them in ways that they need to be helped and not for the ways that we think help is needed.

I love you, how can I help?

LIKE WHAT YOU READ? SIGN UP FOR THE FREE NEWSLETTER