09/09/2026
FROM THE HEART
HOW WELL DO WE REALLY KNOW EACH OTHER?
I've spent a lot of years listening to people.
And one thing I've learned is that appearances are remarkably unreliable.
The confident person can be full of self-doubt.
The funny one can go home to an incredibly quiet evening.
The person who always helps everybody else may have absolutely no idea who to call when they need somebody.
And the person who says, “I'm fine” may simply have become very good at saying it.
We're strange creatures really.
We can know somebody's job, birthday, favourite football team, coffee order and what they had for dinner because Facebook told us...
and still have no idea what they're worried about at 2am.
Perhaps knowing about somebody and actually knowing them are two very different things.
I've been thinking more recently about personality, identity and what makes each of us who we are.
The more I explore it, the less interested I become in putting people into boxes.
I'm becoming more interested in opening the boxes we've already put ourselves in.
Maybe real connection begins with curiosity.
Not assuming we know.
Not immediately trying to fix.
Just occasionally asking the second question.
“How are you?”
“Fine.”
“No, I mean... how are YOU?”
You might be surprised by what happens next.
And perhaps somebody has been waiting a very long time for you to ask.
💙 SafeSpace
Who in your life deserves a second question today?
