It all started when I picked up the latest issue of The Sun Magazine. The Readers Write section was called "Good Advice." It was a longer than usual section; everyone wanted to tell their experience with following or rejecting advice.
Then a family member called. "I need to talk about something. I don't want any advice. I just want you to listen."
Day before yesterday I met with some people about how to raise funds for an organization. "Ask for (and listen to) advice from people who raise and dispense money."
Last night I had dinner with a writer friend. We both needed advice and took turns asking and giving..
Advice is a tricky thing. We all want to give it. A few of us want to get it. Some of us don't want to get it but do anyway. And a very few of us, like my family member, know how to let you know they don't want it.
In a very short while I've been told how to listen to advice and use it to my advantage. I've asked outright for it, been asked to refrain from giving it, refrained from giving it.
Tomorrow I'm going to ask a friend for some more advice, and if anybody asks me for some, I'll be only too happy to give it. But I'm also going to be more aware that it's not always what someone wants when he or she comes to me with a problem, and I'll try to listen with my heart open, keeping my good advice to myself!
2 comments:
Sometimes if I ask someone for advice, I do so to validate something that I've already gone through in my noggin and made a decision. I, on occasion, make less-than-perfect decisions. So it is all for a good cause of keeping me from doing and/or saying something stupid. If I had the Great Gazoo in my life, I wouldn't even have to ask others for advice. The Great Gazoo could just pop out of thin air, and keep me out of trouble. But that's not a possibility.
Gee,that darned Fred Flintstone had all the luck!!
:o)
What Fred had was a Wilma, who gave him a little good advice and a lot of what-for!
The Great Gazoo indeed.
Thanks for stopping by. You're a regular now with all the privileges that entails.... :)
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