Be an Empathetic Listener

"Now as a listener, I want to talk about several things, a few more things. I want you to be empathetic, and empathetic is "I'm trying to understand your situation, I'm trying to see things from your shoes". "Maybe I've never experienced exactly what you're talking about, but I'm going to try not to blow you off". Basically, what you want to do is try to express an understanding of the person's feelings. Allow the speaker, the person who's self disclosing to see things more objectively through your perception. "This is what I see happening", this is how I hear you saying you feel", "this is my experience", and ask questions just to make sure you understand, and by asking questions, you make the person who's self disclosing, feel like you're really investing in them, you're really taking in interest, you're really listening, you're really understanding how their feeling about a particular situation. So, those are the things that you want to do as a listener when someone is self disclosing."