Giving advice

For a number of years I've been working on NOT giving unsolicited advice. In this past decade of children growing into adulthood I've had numerous opportunities to practice. Sadly though, albeit now often more veiled, I still let advice slip out, against my wiser wishes. It happened again recently, and I don't feel good about it.

Rather, I want to increasingly be a life-giving listening presence.
"Good listeners know how to be present to what you're saying without jumping in with advice on how they handled things...they are people who listen to us with an open heart, who ask questions without a specific agenda behind them and without needing to get specific answers from us. And they avoid being judgmental about our choices." - Debra K. Farrington, p 122, Hearing With the Heart

"A fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind." Proverbs 19:13 NAS
"Answering before listening is both stupid and rude."
Proverbs 19:13 The Message

"Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit
- you choose." Proverbs 18:21 The Message