I Hear You

1. Empathize
   2. Validate the emotion
   3. Provide advice/recommendations (if appropriate/asked for)
   4. Validate again
   
   Nothing new added about validation or listening. The author admits that he neither has expertise in the field nor in writing. Thankfully nothing new or noteworthy was really added to the conversation with this work, just a rehashing of other good pieces of advice.

I read this for an upcoming workshop/training for our church's Congregational Care Team at the end of March (which ... I'm not sure is still going to happen now). This slim book is all about validation and ways you can validate the feelings of the people with whom you find yourself having discussions, in order to encourage them to feel comfortable continuing to share. Some of this stuff comes second nature to me, but some of it I need to work on (like not giving unsolicited advice).

I learned so much from this book and I've been trying to implement it in my daily life. Old habits are hard to break but I can already feel that it is helping to uplift my family and coworkers. I hope I can continue working on validating others.