Empathizing while listening really works!

I found it interesting this past week when we studied how to listen first and acknowledge the problem of the person talking. I also found it unique to empathize with the one who has the problem. This has been a particularly hard week for me. I have had credit card problems, viruses on my computer, and school stress all in the matter of about four days. It was hard for me to focus without getting mad or upset at the things going wrong in my life. I ended up talking to one of my friends about it and she did exactly what we studied. She listened very carefully to everything that was going wrong in my life and showed a great deal of empathy towards my problems. She then later brought it to my attention how lucky we are to live in America and how fortunate we are to just be alive period. She later talked to me about Haiti and how my problems were only minuscule compared to theirs. This was a huge help to me. It is always nice to study something and then notice that what you are reading about isn't just some false facts or information. It really works. Thank you.