What Do I Say? Quotes

“Spiritual problems are not things to solve, but opportunities for finding God”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“Solving others’ spiritual problems, correcting or eliminating their spiritual suffering, and converting patients to your way of believing are inappropriate and unrealistic goals.”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“Someone who is preoccupied with never “sinning” may be desperate for love and acceptance.”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“To listen for the spiritual dimension in every human experience and life circumstance requires listening with a definite spirit and intentionality. We are listening for more than what is consciously expressed. We are listening for the very voice, presence, or absence of God in the soul, the core of our lives where meaning is created.”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“Not only does listening initiate healing, it also contributes to illness prevention. When people are not heard, this lack of communication begets a sense of isolation, which begets “evil,” which begets illness or the perpetration of evil behavior.”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“A spiritual director explained how “we listen foremost in order to hear the other into speech…. It is also that weary, troubled, or hungry souls may discover a place that is safe enough for them to name the truth of their lives.” 2”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“Effective helpers are like those who hold a candle in the darkness and then light another’s candle with their flame. 14 These helpers do not make the other depend on their light. Neither do they give their candle away. Instead, the helper assists the other to brighten, to blossom, to flourish. So it is with the wounded healer.”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“Awareness of your own deeper feelings—your own spiritual themes and inevitable woundedness—is requisite to being able to hear another’s.”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality

“Spirituality can be defined as that part of people that seeks ultimate meaning in life, especially in the midst of suffering.”
― Elizabeth Johnston-Taylor, What Do I Say?: Talking with Patients about Spirituality