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 as strange as that may seem.

Listen. All I asked, was that you listen, not talk or do - just hear me. Advice is cheap: A dollar will get you lots of advice in the newspapers. And I can do it 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. 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 under- standing what's behind this irrational feeling. And when that's clear the answers are obvious and I won'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 ty to fix things. He 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.

ANONYMOUS

Don says: This is very deep, however if you read and study it, you can see what the author is trying to say: Give me room, I can work it out. I know you want to help but you cannot give me the help that I need. I need to work it out, by scouring my soul for answers. I must talk to my God, come to understand really what my problem is, and then I can solve it. It is hard to know if the writer is suffering from alcoholism or a mental disorder, but it is quite evident that the writer is looking for an answer, and as we alcoholics know, the answers are within us.