# listening 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 problems, you have failed me, strange as that may seem. LISTEN! all I asked was that you listen, not talk or do . . . just hear me. 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 inadequacy. 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 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 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’ll listen to you. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://um.fz.ax/self/listening.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.