Hi friends,

Last week I led a Big Talk icebreaker at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility as part of their Mental Health Day.

I passed out Big Talk Question Cards and invited everyone to get into groups and skip the small talk.

One man answered, “What do you do when nobody is watching?” with: “You know how when you peel an onion you cry? Well, I like to go into my prison cell and peel back the layers of me and have a good cry.”

Another answered, “What are the little things that bring you joy?” with: “When I walk outside to face the west and watch the sunset each day.”

After the exercise, two men approached me in tears and told me the Big Talk cards were the best gift they’d ever been given. One of them will be free in 30 days and told me he plans to use the cards with his family.

I then asked the men to write down their own Big Talk questions—the questions they wish they could ask or be asked. I’ve shared some of them in this video. Something about seeing the handwriting makes questions even more beautiful and human. After 12 years of working on Big Talk, this was one of the most impactful and powerful experiences I’ve ever had.

Here are some of the other questions they wrote:

• Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning continuous improvement. What is one thing you would like to continuously improve upon?

• When is the last time you experienced tears of joy?

• If you died today, would you be happy about how your life story is told?

• In what ways has forgiveness impacted your life?

• What would you change about the person you see in the mirror?

• If you could invent anything what would you invent?

• What have you learned in life that brought you growth and maturity?

  After the exercise, one man handed me a piece of paper where he had scrawled “Words are the physicians of the mind.”
  

A new Big Talk Question I’ve started asking people is,

“What is the Love Story of your Life?”

Read an Excerpt from the Big Talk Book:

Penguin Random House published the intro of my book for you to read, HERE.

Thank you for reading!

As always, please feel free to reply to this email with thoughts, questions, ideas, or just to say hello.

Kind regards,

Kalina

Big Talk: Skip the small talk and make more meaningful connections.

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