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You are very right! Active listening is so important for patients – it helps them to let go of things that frustrate them, and to help them think through logically what they are feeling in times of trial and stress. A couple of months ago, I had a patient who said something just in passing, and I happened to hear it. Since I had some spare time, I decided to ask him to explain what he had said, and from that got onto the subject of forgiveness. Both from his kids and from God. I was able to minister to him, and he seemed to have a heavy weight come off his shoulders with the reassurance that God loves him and would forgive him for anything he had ever done wrong…before that, he had felt doomed because of the way he had lived his life, only realizing his failures near the end of his life. If I hadn’t been listening, and willing to be active in listening, he may have gone on feeling that sense of doom, and hopelessness in the face of children he knew he had wronged. Sometimes, the only healing we can help patients achieve is spiritual and mental healing, while their bodies fail them like his did.