Preaching with encouragement is a good way to do it. But some people are just too focused on preaching that it almost sounds like judging, that I don't recommend.
Every one has their inspiration in life. The upside to preaching and religion is that you see a light at then end of the tunnel and it gives you hope and inspiration. Now you are trying to share your love through preaching. Nothing wrong with that either. This is coming from an atheist.
The problem with lecturing is this, no onel likes to be lectured too. The best would be to express your concerns and let it be. You expressed yourself and it's up to them at that point. I hate being preached to. Especially in my house.
I am glad you said this because I feel the same way, I kind of feel like "who am I to preach to them?" And the kind of people I know will be pushed even further into what they are doing if they think someone is preaching at them.
No, I do not think it is helpful at all. Being there for someone and supporting them in their time of need is brilliant, and it really helps, but preaching to them and telling them what they should be doing is another case entirely. If someone preached at me I would be more inclined to carry on what I was doing without taking any notice, because it is only going to get most people mad. Be a friend and help them through it without the need of preaching at them, i think it works much better!
I agree with sazzydan. Preaching sounds a bit too self involved and self important, like you know a lot more than who you are preaching to. In my opinion, it's much more useful to be a listener rather than a preacher because people already have enough unnecessary noise in their lives and not enough people who would give them the time of day to learn more about them. When you talk about preaching you are mainly saying it benefits you by strengthening your own beliefs, which might be helpful to the other person to some degree but surely not as helpful as someone just taking a genuine interest in them instead of just telling them what is on your mind.
Yeah you know some people listen and you help them. Some people don't. It really feels satisfying when someone comes and says they took your advice. They talk about being successful at something you suggested. Its kind of like the laws of averages. You do it for so long and feel like it is doing nothing but eventually someone comes out with it. It is a good thing. Even people who resist when they see results and other people commend that. Those who were resisting tend to begin to follow.
It really is a rewarding thing when people come and say to you that they understand what you were trying to tell them. I feel as though that some people just go with what he or she wants to go with and not what they should know from you. For those people who break free and listen they get kudos. Success isn't won over one night and reading your post reinforces the nature about listening in general.
Helping others is also a way to help yourself, and sometimes you'll get to close to your own problems to be able to deal with them, do you need a break from your own problems. There's a difference between helping and preaching though. Instead of preaching or telling people what they should do, it's better to just listen to people and offer advice if and when they need it, rather than forcing your opinion on them, even with the best intentions it could fall on deaf ears
I prefer to just give advice when I'm asked for it rather than preaching. I feel like to some, the concept of being "preached at" has some negative connotations, like they are being told what to do. As adults I feel like sometimes when we are told what to do it (particularly if we are battling addiction) it can push us further away from recovery and more into that downward spiral of using. I definitely think there's ways though to help others through sharing your experiences - I just don't know that I would preach about it! Perhaps I'm reading too much into that word preach, though!
Yes, preaching can be anything from religious to inspiring, although some preachings can be negative, but that's another story. Preachings in general can inspire and motivate people to improve their lives, like in the case of drug addicts.
Yes it's really helpful in a lot of cases. Even if you don't see the effects right away, the people are listening and letting it sink in. It helps you as well to express what inspires you to stay clean.