‘Hi .. Conversation Changes Lives’ Book Blog
“Hi” is a wealth of information that will encourage you, entice you, to take the first tentative steps to engage with others, to develop a sense of worth in one’s involvement with others, and with the community we share.
I highly recommend this treasure trove of practices, delightful story ‘snippets’, and compelling rationale for conversation. — Ken Annandale, Educator
We welcome your comments, and experiences as you let conversation change your life after reading the book. View a TV feature about Hi or view our entertaining book launch
Saw my neighbor’s on my walk today and started up a conversation so it was a start.
Asked how they had slept with the thunder storm… it morphed into talking about our other neighbor putting their house on the market then house selling in general… they are accountants so interesting perspective…
I find great conversations happen best in brief interaction with people you presume you will never see again. No expectations, nothing invested in problems from saying the wrong things, ok to be vulnerable.
I never expected to dive into Victoria (from a faraway mainland of China) through this channel.I admire Christopher’s curiosity, creativity, courage, perseverance, and sincerity.
As a student in sociology for seven years, I am familiar with in-depth interviews, as a method for my research, even to a “stubborn” degree — only through “in-depth” interviews (which means lasting for at least one and half hours or longer with the participants I already know for a while or quite well) will I be able to know someone or something.
Hi! Conversation (both as a book and as a conversation model) is so refreshing and eye-opening. Each conversation is like a small window — when I read one (in the book or on the card deck website), I feel like the light is turned on and the words come to life. When I read a bunch of conversations, the same amount of windows have lights on, and I could hear, see, and feel animate stories through those windows. Like looking through many kaleidoscopes at the same time. So colourful and beautiful.
That’s life. I have no reasons to say I don’t have the motivation to live further. The magic derives from wonderful questions — a jump-out-of-a-box question could “pull out” the stories so well which are otherwise so easily ignored and concealed. In essence, it also needs our curiosity, sincerity, intent, patience, and preparedness. The conversation is not just about speaking words or sentences. It is a bridge between two hearts.
The story of the driver is such a beautiful one. I could imagine how poetic she is — “While many people come home at the end of the day and watch TV — she drives a bus. The bus is her television. It has a wide screen, dynamic characters and storylines that are always changing.” (p.23) She has a keen eye for life (both hers and others). “Working out and being outside” is a seemingly simple idea (thus ignored) but really makes a difference. That’s what I didn’t think of and apply until recently, but she had practiced it for years.
(hopefully to be continued)
I’ve been phoning interesting people I’ve known over the years. One of them developed in to film producer. She told me of her progress in the field. I saw the quality of her work, and suggested I could introduce her to a prominent Canadian producer now working in Hollywood. That connection came to pass, and his production team has now received the script.
I have not forgotten anything that I learned from Conversation Changes Lives You will be glad to hear that since graduation, I have travelled across the entire continent by car, and have expanded my conversational intelligence even more as I used skills from the book all the way through to meet a ton of people!!
How cool… great to hear, Justin.
Now that you are conscious of what’s going well for you each day.. a next stage is to
ask others for their ‘moment’ — and when they turn it back on you, you will be ready with a succinct example.
If you hear a particularly striking one from this exchange… I’d love to hear it.
You will cause a ripple effect — which is way more inspiring and useful than hearing of fears and discord.