8 things to practice.

I was talking with a friend. Sometimes, my friend said, the tone of voice my friend uses causes problems. So I suggested my friend could practice saying things to learn how to moderate tone of voice and to practice being more gentle.

It made me start wondering what kinds of things we could practice, simple things that we do all the time that we could do more effectively, more intentionally. Most of these are things we can practice when no one is around, paying attention to how to do it better when people are around, when we are doing it for real.

1. Your tone of voice.

2. The volume of your voice.

3. Measuring the amount of water and the amount of coffee used every night.

4. Reading books out loud for kids.

5. Drawing stick figures.

6. Listening before speaking.

7. Not telling an “I can top that story” when someone tells a story.

8. Smiling.