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Blog entry by Glocal Academy

Could You Listen?

Could You 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 and you begin to

tell me why 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.

When you do something for me that I can

and need to do for myself, you contribute to

my fear and inadequacy; 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 down to the

business of understanding it.

Irrational feelings make sense when we

understand what’s behind them. And when

that’s clear, the answers are obvious and I

don’t need advice.

So please just listen. If you want to talk,

wait a minute for your turn and I’ll listen to

you.

-Author unknown[1]


[1] Author unknown (Author is believed to be a patient with psychiatric problems. He wished to remain anonymous. He wrote it when he was an inpatient in a psychiatry hospital)

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