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 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 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.
 Don't talk or do--just hear me.
 Advice is cheap; 20 cents will get
 you both Dear Abbey adn 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 
 inadequacy.
 But when you accept as a simple fact
 that I feel what I feel,
 no matter how irrational,
 then I can stop trying to convince
 you and get about this 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.
 Perhaps that's why prayer works, sometimes,
 for some people--because God is mute,
 and he 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 will listen to you.
 
 ~Author Unknown