On Being Kind

“Kindness is loaning someone your strength instead of reminding them of their weakness.”

How do we do this? By …

– Simply wanting to be there for them, and giving them our full and undivided attention when they take the risk of opening up to us.

– Listening with empathy and compassion when they tell us their painful story.

– Believing them when they tell us what has happened.

– Being there for them when they feel lost and abandoned.

– Communicating it is normal to have these intense feelings (and also to react in these very scary ways) when you’ve experienced a trauma like this.

– Telling them they’re doing an amazing job of coping.

– Repeatedly confirming this is really hard to deal with.

– Communicating you believe that they’ll get through this, even if things seem impossible right now.

– Continuing to check in…