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 should not 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 I asked, was for you to listen;
not talk or do - just hear me.
Advice is cheap: $1.50 will get you both Dear Abby and
Billy Graham in the same newspaper.
And I can do for myself; I am not helpless;
Maybe discouraged and faltering, but not helpless.

When you do something for me 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 quit trying to convince
you and get about the business of understanding what is
behind this irrational feeling.
And when that is clear, the answers are obvious and I
do not need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what is
behind them.

Perhaps that is why prayer works, sometimes for some people;
because God is mute, and he does not give advice or
try to fix things. "They" just listen and let you
work it out for yourself.

So, please listen and just hear me. And, if you want to
talk, wait a minute for your turn; and I will listen to you.