Answering questions

Don't guide if you're willing to give advice

When you are a guide you're in a position of authority and people might actually follow your advice (like you might do after reading this guide). If you think you're ready to give people meditation advice—how to handle their deepest inner struggles—please don't guide! We're a bunch of students, not teachers.

But people will have questions and I do think we can add value by answering.

All the things I will describe going further is what I consider the best case scenario. I often don't do the things described, it is unintuitive, but in my opinion really worth pursuing.

Recognise the question

Often, we are caught up in answering. So caught up, that we barely listen. Whenever a question comes up try to actively listen to it. See if you truly understand what they are saying. Repeat their question in different words to check if you understood them correctly.

Asking others first

Start by asking the people present if they have any experience with this and how they relate to this. Talking about your practice can be very useful. This actively motivates people to do that. It shows that they add value by sharing their experience.

Sharing your experience

Sometime you do have some valuable experience you do want to share and that is great!

1. First share your own struggle. This could be a similar situation or just their situation repeated in your own words. Or maybe you know someone else that worked with that problem.

2. Share how you handle this difficulty. Don't tell them how they should handle their struggle, just share how you handle yours. Or if you know someone else that worked with a similar problem, share how they worked with that. Don't tell them what to do.

If I don't first share my own struggle, I often don't realise that I have zero personal experience with the question asked, but I still am going to answer it... That can't be right.