Active Listening Poem- author unkown Posted by:Lloyd Woodward--Thursday, March 05, 2009

When I ask you to listen to me,
and you start giving me advice,
you have not done what I asked.


When I ask that you 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 listen to me,
and you feel you have to do something to solve my problems,
you have failed me, strange as that may seem.

Listen:
All that I ask is that you listen,
not talk or do- just hear me.

When you do something for me,
that I need to do for myself,
you contribute to my feelings of inadequacy.

But when you accept as a simple fact that
that I do feel what I feel, no matter how irrational,
then I can quit trying to convince you
and go about the business of understanding what's behind my feelings.

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.

(If anyone knows who the author is, post a comment- thanks)