listening

You know what I just realized, how helpful it is to talk to someone who actually cares to listen, and who actually wants to talk to you, and possibly figure out a solution (if needed) for whatever we are talking about. I also want to emphasize, it is helpful when that person that I am talking to is completely unbiased and simply wants to help me with whatever I am going through. I discovered this the other day when I was talking to one of my friends who is doing this project for her counseling class. She has to interview someone (that someone being me) in front of her teacher, as if she is counseling them, and then she is graded on her performance. So my friend and I had to meet beforehand so she could practice, and so I could get more comfortable with this whole shindig. It actually turned out to be very helpful and very profitable, which wasn't what I was expecting at all. Not that I didn't think that she could do a good job, but just that I wasn't going into this expecting to get anything out of it at all, when after it is all said and done I probably will be helped as much if not more than she will be.

Then I started thinking about it this morning and I realized that, yes, she was using counseling methods that aided her in helping me, but really she was just listening, engaging in conversation, and was just there to help me out, and to talk to me about what is going on in my life. The awesome thing is, that she doesn't judge me, and she doesn't think of me any different because of the conversations that we have had, which is awesome.

So I just want to encourage you to listen to someone today, and then not only listen, but engage in conversation with them. And don't judge that person for what they tell you, and be confidential about it, let them know that when they are talking to you they are safe.

Well, I've got a test in an hour and a half that I haven't studied for, so I should probably start on that. But I just wanted to write about this as the thoughts were coming to my mind, because if I don't do it right away then I will lose it. Happens quite frequently actually.

O yeah, and it is 12 degrees today in Chicago...awesome...I'll try not to die of frost bite