Could You Just Listen?

[Carol87]

Could You Just Listen?

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 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 that you listen,
not talk to or do-just hear me.

Advice is cheap; 50 cents will get you both
Dear Abby and Billy Graham
in the same paper.

I can do for myself; I'm 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 of 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 can get about this business
of understanding what's behind this irrational feeling.
When that's clear, the answers are obvious
and I don't need advice.

Irrational feelings make some sense when we understand
what's behind them.

Perhaps that's why prayer works, sometimes, for some people -
because God is mute, and doesn't give advice
or try to fix things. God just listens
and lets 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'll listen to you.

author unknown