Understanding Another’s Viewpoint
Begin with an explanation of how the other person’s thoughts and feelings affect you. Avoid blaming and being self-defensive as much as possible. Doing this initiates the crucial connection between another person’s private world of experiences and your own.
The objective here is not to analyze or pass judgment on another’s viewpoint, in which you worked hard to grasp to begin with, but to let them know how it influences your own thoughts and feelings. If your reaction is strong, you will likely experience some temptation to blame the other person for any bad feelings you have, or jump into a self-defensive stance because you perceive their viewpoint as an attack on you.