Dave Blanchard, the Founder and CEO of the Og Mandino Group, has delivered over 500 powerful speeches everywhere from Boston to Budapest. And through them, he’s made a rather heartbreaking discovery: everytime he asks his audience if they can remember the last time they truly felt heard and understood, only a few people actually raise their hand.
And the few people that did could vividly remember when that occasion was, even when it had already happened several years ago. But often, we forget how powerful it can be to listen to others, and in return truly feel heard.
I’m grateful to have this conversation with Dave so that he could provide valuable wisdom on how pain and suffering can be a gateway to being a gift in the lives of others, and help us navigate the hard challenges that can be thrown our way.
Through his work and three books, Dave helps people improve the neural pathways in their brains by creating new habits that will support them in the journey they desire. He reminds us that pain and suffering connects people, and that embracing it can help anyone, including parents navigating a journey with a sick child, feel less alone.
His best advice is that having empathy can truly set you free. He encourages those he works with to take feelings like pain, shame, or guilt, and use them to serve others.
Key Takeaways with Dave Blanchard
- How painful experiences can give you a unique ability to serve others.
- Embracing empathy and understanding as a tool for healing.
- Valuable techniques to change your negative thought patterns and habits.
- The powerful impact of listening to others.
- How helping others process their feelings can help us process our own.
- The effect of traumatic experiences on our ability to catastrophize and how to fix it.
- The importance of finding joy in the present moment.
- Letting your faith guide you in moments of adversity.
- Letting go of expectations in order to find true happiness.
Dave Blanchard Tweetables
- “Your character is forged through the furnace of adversity.” – Dave Blanchard
- “Take your shame, your guilt and your pain and use it to serve other people.” – Dave Blanchard
- “Marriage is such a beautiful thing if we understand the principles that govern it.” – Dave Blanchard
- “Most of us are living in our heads, we’re not present in the Now. But Now is where everything happens. Joy is being present in the Now, embracing your natural genius, and bringing it fully to the service of another person.” – Dave Blanchard
Resources
- OgMandino.com
- Today I Begin a New Life: Og Mandino for the 21st Century by Dave Blanchard
- The Observer’s Chair: Discovering the Real You by Dave Blanchard
- Equanimity: Conquering Mt. Entrepreneur by Dave Blanchard
- Take Dave’s Free Assessment: The Un-Personality Test
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