Your friend's mom just passed away. She needs you to be there for her but you don't know what to say.
What do you do?
Nothing. Just listen. It's common to try to give advice, console, sympathize, explain, story-tell, and interrogate- common behaviors that prevent us from being sufficiently present to connect empathically with others. These are also known as evaluative listening. Instead, try empathic listening. Empathic listening is attending to a message in order to understand another person's perspective without evaluation or criticism. It requires empathy, which is emptying the mind and listening with our whole being.
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