Serving vs. Fixing

My mentor shared a quote that I’d like to pass along here.

“Many times, when we help, we do not really serve… Serving is also different from fixing. One of the pioneers of the Human Potential Movement, Abraham Maslow, said, “If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.” Seeing yourself as a fixer may cause you to see brokenness everywhere, to sit in judgement of life itself. When we fix others, we may not see their hidden wholeness or trust the integrity of the life in them. Fixers trust their own expertise. When we serve, we see the unborn wholeness in others; we collaborate with it and strengthen it. Others may then be able to see their wholeness for themselves for the first time.”

—Rachel Naomi Remen


Holly Margl is the award-winning author of Witnessing Grief; Inviting Trauma and Loss to Our Coaching Conversations, An Enneagram Perspective, coach, coach mentor, and trainer specializing in grief, trauma, and the Enneagram.

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