I think that the most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention and especially if its given from the heart. When people are talking, there's no need to do anything but receive them. Just take them in. Listen to what they're saying. Care about it. Most times caring about it is even more important than understanding it. When we interrupt what someone is saying to let them know that we understand, we move the focus of attention to ourselves. When we listen, they know we care. I have even learned to respond to someone crying by just listening. In the old days I used to reach for the tissues , until I realized that passing a person a tissue may be just another way to shut them down, to take them out of their experience of sadness and pain. Now I just listen. When they have cried all they need to cry, they find me there with them. This simple thing has not been that easy to learn. It certainly went against everything I had been taught since I was very young at school. I thought people listened only because they were too timid to speak or did not know the answer. A loving silence often has far more power to connect and to heal than the most well-intentioned words. Passing a person who is crying a tissue perhaps means  _
stopping them from crying any more Stopping them from saying anything advising them to have a rest helping them to accept the sadness