Posts in Blog
10 questions to ask yourself for the new year
10 questions to ask yourself for the new year

Sometimes, a little reflection can be helpful for ushering you through transitions. The new year happens to be a great opportunity to introspect on the last 365-ish days, and an especially good time to start new habits. So, we’ve come up with ten questions to help you make meaning of the last year and to move with direction into the next. As always, we encourage you to delve deeper into the questions that jibe with you and to leave the ones that don’t.

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BlogAshley Kirsnernew years, new year, reflection, questions, resolution, new years resolution, new years resolutions, compassion, self-compassion, self improvement, new habits, break old habits, habits, ten questions, ten questions to ask yourself for the new year, 10 questions to ask yourself for the new year Comment
How to handle tough personalities
How to handle tough personalities

We’ve gotten a lot of requests for this one.

They often sound something like: “I’m a good communicator, but it’s just that my coworker/ roommate/ mom/ boyfriend’s second cousin is awful at communication.”

But no matter how horrible of a communicator they are, you can use this trick to work within their limited communication skills and get your point across.

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BlogAshley Kirsnerproblematic, fight, fighting, relationships, healthy relationships, healthy relationship, relationship, advice, tough personalities, tough personality, one quick tip to help you handle tough personalities, communication, communication skills, communicate, communication problems, having communication problems, pushing buttons, push buttons, relationship dynamicsComment
10 questions to ask your mom on Mother's Day
10 questions to ask your mom on Mother's Day

Mother’s Day can be a great excuse to connect with a woman who helped raise you. Of course, everyone has a different relationship with their mother (we’d love to take this opportunity to remind you of our article on metaconversations in case you think it’d be helpful to tweak something in your relationship with your mom), but for those of you who want to take the chance to get closer to the matriarch in your life, we’ve put together some questions to help create meaningful conversations that you might not have had with her before. Feel free to pick and choose the questions that feel right-- we recommend going with your intuition about what questions would work best for the kind of relationship you have with your mom.

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BlogAshley Kirsnermom, mother's day, icebreaker, icebreaker questions, question, questions, questions to ask, questions to ask your mom, questions to ask on mother's day, moms, 10 questions to ask, 10 questions to ask your mom, 10 questions to ask your mom on mother's day, mother's, day, mothers, relationships, relationship, icebreakers, icebreaker question, mother's day questions, metaconversation, metaconversations Comments
Why you need self-compassion in your life and how to do it (even when you don’t want to)
Why you need self-compassion in your life and how to do it (even when you don’t want to)

At Skip the Small Talks, we ask attendees to have compassion for others and for themselves as they try out new ways to hold conversations. It’s probably obvious why we care about people having compassion for each other at an event where strangers are getting to know each other for the first time, but equally if not more important in that context is self-compassion. That’s because any attempt at change or improvement generally goes much more smoothly if you’re not beating yourself up after every setback. Connecting genuinely often requires taking some risks (like sharing things that feel a little vulnerable), and having compassion for yourself when those risks don’t pan out the way you hope can help you continue taking some risks in the long-term, and can help make the learning process easier for you in the short-term. 

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BlogAshley Kirsnercompassion, self-compassion, Skip the Small Talk, blogpost, skip the small talk, hotline, suicide hotline, listening, talking, self-love, vulnerability, genuine, communicating, communication, communication skills, coping skills, coping, distress tolerance, tolerating distress, resilience, psychological well-being, well-being, happiness, mood, happy, friends, friendship, strenghts, positive psychology, positivity, help, criticism, critique, be kind to yourself, worthy, worthiness, you are worthy, self-talk, positive self-talk, mental health, mental wellness, Skip the Small Talks, authentic, conversations, conversation, evolutionary psychology, evolution, negative, negativity bias, negativity, gratitude, asking for help, reaching out for help, reach out for help, reach out, reaching outComment
How to talk about your accomplishments without sounding like a jerk
How to talk about your accomplishments without sounding like a jerk

So you just got a promotion, or maybe you got a nice compliment from a passing stranger on your outfit, or maybe you won a free cruise. It’s human to want to tell people about the cool stuff that’s happened to you. It can amplify your excitement to share with someone who “gets it,” and it can help inspire and motivate others who hear about your successes. But nobody wants to seem like a jerk, and more importantly, you probably don’t want to make other people feel badly if they find themselves comparing their lives to this great thing that just happened to you. That’s why we’ve put together some tips for sharing the good stuff without making other people feel badly.

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BlogAshley Kirsnerhow to, accomplishments, humble, brag, humblebrag, humble brag, bragging, gratitude, accomplishment, win, wins, celebrate, celebrate wins, success, successes, how to talk about success, how to talk about successes, how to talk about accomplishments, how to talk about your accomplishments, how to talk about your accomplishments without sounding like a jerk, how to talk about accomplishments without sounding like a jerk, asshole, buttons, pressing buttons, press your buttons, mood boost, positive mood, good mood, don't be a jerk, how not to be a jerk, social skills, communication, how to talk about yourself, how to brag, how to brag without bragging, networking, how to network, networking advice, how do I networkComment
12 Nayyirah Waheed poems that Skip the Small Talk
12 Nayyirah Waheed poems that Skip the Small Talk

We're excited to either introduce you to or remind you about made-famous-by-Instagram-but-actually-because-of-talent-not-just-because-her-stuff-is-on-Instagram poet Nayyirah Waheed. Her books salt. and Nejma are brimming with unpretentious poems that capture human experiences we don't usually talk about in everyday life. So, obviously, she's very much our jam. Here are some of our favorite poems of hers that capture some of the ideas we've discussed in other blogposts or at our events.

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BlogAshley KirsnerNayyirah Waheed, Nayyirah, Waheed, poem, poems, poetry, poet, poets, woman of color, women of color, salt, salt., Nejma, nejma, a pinch of prose for those days, Instagram, Instagram poem, instagram, instagram poetry, Instagram poetry, relationships, what you need to say, split, hurt, vulnerability, vulnerable, pain, rejected, unable, masculine, culture, masculinity, men, strenght, strength from vulnerability, strength out of vulnerability, strength, honesty, yield, breakdown, break down, heal, healing, compassion, judgment, judging, judgmental, mindful, mindfulness, authentic, authenticity, people pleasing, people pleaser, people-pleasing, people-pleaser, self-love, self-care, speak up, speaking up, the freedom in fear, home, name, dam Comment