compassionate listening Quotes

“The most effective way to show compassion to another is to listen, rather than talk.”

“Based on her experience with men, most assumed that when you talked to them about a problem or dilemma, they were expected to offer an opinion, even when all you wanted was for them to listen.”

“Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.”

“This is so because a shared pain is no longer paralyzing but mobilizing, when understood as a way to liberation.”

“Thus, nothing can be written about ministry without a deeper understanding of the ways in which ministers can make their own wounds available as a source of healing.”

“In short: ‘Who can take away suffering without entering it?’ ”

“When we become aware that we do not have to escape our pains, but that we can mobilize them into a common search for life, those very pains are transformed from expressions of despair into signs of hope.”

“People talk easily to me. . . I am like a stranger on the bus and they get hooked on having a listener. They go too far because I am one listener who is in no position to judge or find fault . . . I listen eagerly, warmly, because I care. They tell me everything.”

“When you speak, always remember that God is one of your listeners.”