I believe this does work … but sadly I don’t use it as often as I should.

I remember Stephen Covey talking about something similar in one of his books. Validate the other person’s feelings as legitimate by reflecting them back. I think he used the expression (my paraphrase) “like giving their feelings emotional oxygen”.

Maybe this would be the second step after you ask “How do you feel about that” … then say “That must be painful” (or whatever would be the appropriate emotion).

Hummmm … not being any more than a “psychological quackie-practor” … I wonder if asking a person the question “How do you feel about that” helps them understand their intellectual thoughts and emotional thoughts about a topic and brings a potential disparity closer together?

Thanks for the tip.