How does one support and sympathize with friends and family now that it’s so clear that we create our own suffering AND there are ways to move through it and to a better place? I want to help but I’m not a life coach and they aren’t asking me for coaching. Is it just okay to sympathize, empathize and listen to the “tales of woe”? Is it appropriate to ask questions like “why do you believe that?” Not in an “I am coaching you” way, but just one question to help them think about it. I try to pepper my experience with TLCS into conversations using examples of how I worked things out using the model. Nobody really seems interested. Maybe no harm done? Maybe it helped? My son is quick to shut me down when I say “our thoughts cause our feeling which drive our actions and results”. “It’s all about having CONFIDENCE mom!” he says loudly. He’s 21 and has just figured out something that works for him though from his results it’s obvious that he’s buffering heavily and is drifting around. Hah! But anyway, my current answer to this dilemma is just be kind and caring, and to be an example with my own life. Any advice from the “been there done that” crowd will be much appreciated.