When my kids were teenagers, I read What EveryBODY Is Saying by former FBI agent and body‑language expert Joe Navarro. I practiced his insights during the single hour I had with my boys each day after school, before they began their jobs at Starbucks that night. Navarro explains that the body often speaks before we do, and he notes that our feet rarely lie.
Navarro teaches that one of the simplest and most powerful ways to listen is to square your feet and body toward the person speaking. When we place both feet toward someone and settle fully in their direction, we communicate what words alone struggle to express: I am here. I am not in a hurry. I am with you. In that moment, you are offering sacred attention.
Healing often begins with the willingness to be present with those who grieve. After a reproductive loss, life can become painfully quiet. Friends fear saying the wrong thing and worry they may make things worse. Yet the first step in supporting those you love and care for is the radical courage to enter someone’s grief.
The act of being there for another is rooted in a deeper truth found in the Bible. God’s presence in our suffering invites us to offer our presence to others (2 Cor. 1:3-5). Anyone can step into the sacred space of another person’s grief with a listening ear and a compassionate posture. That radical act of presence is often the beginning of healing.
I have hope today
because you are not
distant.
And I celebrate
the amazing
rest and strength
to be found in the reality that
your sovereignty
has brought you
near.
You Are Not a Distant Lord by Paul David Tripp
Tricia Lewis, PhD