8 Comments
User's avatar
Martha Chabinsky's avatar

Such good information Beth

Beth O’Brien, Ph.D.'s avatar

Thanks Martha!

Glad you found it helpful

Monica Fernandes's avatar

I love these questions and your perspective on the intercommunication between friends. It's hard to go deep in a group. I much prefer one-on-ones when I can devote my full attention to someone. To answer your question, it depends on the depth of a relationship. If it's an acquaintance, I just answer with "Great, how about you?" If it's a close friend, I answer in detail about how I am doing. My question to them might be, "How are you REALLY doing?" The surface-level stuff is not my jam.

Beth O’Brien, Ph.D.'s avatar

Monica, thanks for sharing!

Surface level stuff not my jam, either.

I like your question: how are you really doing?

That says “you can be yourself with me.”

Monica Fernandes's avatar

Exactly! No smoke and mirrors.

KW's avatar

Great ideas for deeper and more meaningful connection, something we could all use more of 💛

Finding Inner Wisdom's avatar

I really love this! I personally don’t resonate with superficial talk. I always try to go deeper in my relationships, but I see how people are not used to do this. We need to change that 🗣️

Ryan Fox's avatar

These are great tips Beth. I think all of us get so used to the small talk that we don’t even notice how shallow our conversations can get.

With certain people, I do attempt to get more deep in my responses to those shallow questions. But having some different phrases can definitely help to start making the conversation more meaningful.