How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away

by Emily P. Freeman

I’m learning that asking a question is often kinder than making a statement, but it only counts if you actually listen to the answer.

Be present and be attuned. Not to the anxious, fickle system of commenters with their likes, shares, and opinions; instead, show up as yourself without permission from the anxious system.

And here’s the secret about people-pleasing no one really tells us: it doesn’t actually please the people. When you’re

trying to please the people rather than working to discern from a centered, wholehearted place, your work will never be enough. It will always exhaust you and never fully please those around you. Nobody wins and no one is free. What wounded, anxious people need most is not you as they think you ought to be but the solid presence of a well-differentiated leader who insists on being okay with or without their consent.

My need, desire, obsession with finding the “right” room keeps me from engagement, from connection, from who God is right now.