Listen

When I ask you to listen to me and you start giving me advice, you have not done what I asked.

When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me that I shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings.

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 that I asked was that you listen–not talk or do–just hear me.

Advice is cheep. Thirty-five cents will get you both Dear Abby and Billy Graham in the same newspaper.

All I can do is do for myself. I am not helpless–maybe discouraged, but not helpless.

When you do something for me that I can and need to do for myself, you contribute to my fear and inadequacy.

So, please listen and just hear me. If you want to talk, wait a minute for your turn–and I’ll listen to you.

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