"Can We Talk?"
When I ask you to listen to me,
and you start to give 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 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 ask is that you listen;
Not talk or do, just hear me.

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 can get about the business
of understanding what's behind
this irrational feeling.

And when that's clear,
the answers are obvious
and I don't need advice.
Irrational feelings make sense
when we understand what's behind them.

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 . . .