Listen
When I ask you to listen to me
and you start giving advice
you have not done what I asked.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you begin to tell me why I shouldn't feel that way,
you are trampling on my feeling.
When I ask you to listen to me
and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem
you have failed me, strange as that may seem.
Listen! All is asked, was that you listen.
Not talk or do - just hear me.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless.
Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.
When you do something that I can and need to do
for myself, you contribute to my fear and weakness.
But, when you accept as a simple fact that I do feel what I feel
no matter how irrational, then I can stop trying to convince you
and get about the business of understanding what's behind the irrational.
And when that's clear, the answers are obvious
and I don't need advice.
So, listen and just hear me. And, if you want to talk,
wait a minute for your turn; and I'll listen to you.