Transcripts

Terri Cannavo:
And what I have found is the best thing to say if people have loss at whatever level - whether it's a pet, a job, a spouse - is "I am sorry for your loss", period.

Terri Cannavo, author of the book So You're Not Mother Teresa…

And then what you can do is offer a specific act: "May I come over and take your ironing home and help you with that task? May I take your children to the park tomorrow for two hours so that you can have some quiet time?" You give them specific things that they can put their mind around rather than say, "Is there something I can do for you?"

And what kinds of things should you offer? Well, Terri says…

You think about what it is that you would like have done to you if you were in that situation and there you start. And at that level then you can start developing this capacity to go: "Ok if I would like that done for me maybe I'll do it for them" - but tweak it in a way that helps fit their personality.

And in this era of email, Terri says it's easy to overlook the power of a handwritten note.

Notes I think, are probably the best, most comfortable act of kindness you can give to somebody because you can just dash off a very quick wonderful note - drop it in the mail and then from that place, then you can safely move forward if you want to go a little bit farther with your service.

At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.