Listening again

Another poem about listening picked out by the team at Mindline

LISTEN

When I ask you to listen to me

and you start giving 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 asked, was that you listen,

not talk or do – just hear me.

Advice is cheap; you can get both Dear Abby and

Billy Graham in the same newspaper

And 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 and weakness.

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.   

Quoted in Amenta & Bonhet (1986)

Mindline is a Mental Health Helpline Project which operates 3 helplines to help support better mental health

Mindline Somerset 8pm till 11pm – Tue, Wed, Fri, Sat & Sunday 01823  276 892

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