Chris Schembra has hosted over 700 community-building dinners. He's found that these key emotionally intelligent phrases help ...

Empathy is powerful — and often, it’s expressed best in small talk. This is a phrase that radiates warmth. It’s how great conversationalists make people feel appreciated for sharing. Instead of ...

Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN’s Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being. You’re standing in line at ...

“I heard it’s supposed to rain this weekend.” “How about those Cubs?” “Did you hear about Ed, the escaped zebra from Tennessee?” If you groan at the thought of small talk, you’re not alone. More than ...

Learning how to get better at small talk might not seem like much of a conversational superpower. Arguably everyone’s least favorite part of socializing, surface-level chitchat can be awkward, ...

I had been waiting all week to talk to a coworker about something urgent, so when we finally planned to meet at the coffee shop, I was relieved. I walked in, eager to share, but before I could tell ...

I’m not particularly close with my brother. We have an age gap of six years, after all. I left for college when he was still in middle school, so he was an only child for most of his ...