You cannot read hearts. The game is not to guess what the other person feels · it is to choose the right posture toward what they say.
Two ways to practice
The rule of the game · the triangle
Someone says a sentence to you. You do not know what they are living through. Faced with this, we almost always slide toward one of three traps · or we choose to join the person, at the center.
▲ Correct · hammering out the truth before having listened.
◀ Flee · avoiding, dodging, staying silent out of comfort.
▶ Presume · believing you know what the other feels, and telling them so.
● Join · the center: listen first, then answer rightly.
The antidote to the three traps is the three listenings: listening to understand (the facts), to feel (the emotion), to discern (the real issue).
"Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)
At the end, a dot will show you which corner your answers today leaned toward · a hint, not a verdict.
Posture0 / 8
You reach out to Nadia, a friend no longer seen at church. She has just answered you. Each of your moves opens · or closes · what comes next. You can get it wrong: acknowledging that you presumed often repairs everything.
Spirit of the game: "listen to understand, listen to feel, listen to discern" · the three listenings of the Guide d'Apologétique (FACSAR / FEAR · Indian Ocean). Jesus responds to the need, not the words (John 4, the Samaritan woman) · but "the LORD looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7): to us, the right posture; to God, the knowledge of hearts. Member training: no one here is a target.