How Do We Give Advice?

Alright, so this week was a total fail. I'll try

http://www.picturequotes.com/never-give-advice-unless-asked-quote-18930

This week's topic is about how we give advice to others. 

I think it's a pretty nice compliment that my friends will ask my opinion or advice on difficult situations in their lives. I do my best to give them advice that they can use, if they choose to do so. Sometimes, while giving said advice, I find myself saying something like, "Yeah, that really sucks. What I've done..." or "Yeah, I always try to do..." or "Well, I like to handle that this way.." 

I sometimes end up bringing it around to myself. Sometimes, depending on the situation, this can be helpful to someone, especially if you've been through that particular situation. I like to know how someone else handled it because maybe I could do the same. 

However, I try not to do it if the person didn't ask for how I handled or navigated through a situation. I don't like it when someone does it to me, so when I catch myself doing it others, I try to stop myself and say something to keep the focus on that person. They certainly didn't ask my opinion or advice about a situation to hear all about me! 

I would say it's a habit that we can fall into. It's not necessarily a bad thing, I just think that sometimes it can be counterproductive. I try to put myself in the other person's shoes and think about how I would feel if the person I were talking to kept on bringing the conversation around to just be about them. I wouldn't like that very much, and I feel like most people don't either. 

So my advice to you (pun intended), is to try to actually listen to others and give input that could help them. Hopefully, others will do the same for you! 

That's it. Au revoir et à demain, 

Rachel