Listen To Me:...

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 why I shouldn’t feel that way, You are trampling on my feelings When I ask you to listen to me And you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, You have failed me, as strange as that may seem. All I asked was that you listen, not talk or do – just listen to me. Talk is cheap: 50 cents 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 And get about the business of Understanding what is behind this irrational feeling. And when that is clear, the answers are obvious And I don’t need advice. Irrational feelings make sense when we understand what is behind them. Perhaps that is why prayer works, sometimes, for some people, Because the Goddess they pray to is mute And She doesn’t give advice or try to fix things. She 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.

~unknown~