wikiHow: How to Be a Good Listener

I just found a post via Lifehacker called How to Be a Good Listener. The article has some very good points. What I would like to add is that if your goal in listening is to provide some form of emotional support or encouragement, then you have to be emotionally engaged. I do not mean you have to fall in love with the other person, but you have to be at least somewhat concerned that the person is upset. Let that concern or consideration for the other person drive your actions and questions. If you honestly do not feel any sympathy for the other person (and there may be perfectly good reasons for this), then you will very naturally find yourself looking at your watch, interrupting the other person, and generally doing everything you can to make them stop talking.