What People Really Need!

Episode Title: What People Really Need!

Episode Summary:
Have you ever wondered what people really need from you? Spoiler alert – it’s also what you really need from them AND from yourself! This is easy to overlook yet profoundly life-changing. Today, Amanda Wirtz Rosolowski, MPH, dives into the power of witnessing—how simply being present for others (and yourself) can create deeper human connections and make you more effective. In a world facing incredible stress and dehumanization, we cannot change others, but we can change ourselves—in doing so, we change the world.

In This Episode:

• The roles we play in life and why we are not our roles
• What it truly means to be a witness and why it's vital
• The societal impact of dehumanization and how we play a part
• Practical ways to develop witnessing skills in personal and professional settings
• The importance of witnessing yourself and practicing self-compassion

Key Quotes:

"Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable." – David Augsburger

"I still think that the greatest suffering is being lonely, feeling unloved, just having no one... That is the worst disease that any human being can ever experience." – Mother Teresa

Take Action:

✔ Notice when, how, and in what ways others invite you to be a witness
✔ Practice deep listening, respectful silence, and unhurried compassion
✔ Experiment with witnessing yourself—acknowledge all your emotions without distraction
✔ Set boundaries while choosing to witness in meaningful and balanced ways
✔ Cultivate defiant humanism—be present for yourself and others

Links & Resources:

• How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen – David Brooks
• Research: 
  • https://www.cigna.com/static/www-cigna-com/docs/about-us/newsroom/studies-and-reports/combatting-loneliness/cigna-2020-loneliness-report.pdf
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886920302555
  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3874845/

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Until next time, remember: The most powerful thing is your choice - choose to be a witness... choose to be defiantly human!