When to give advice

Sometimes I can tell that a friend just wants to vent. Then I will just let her go ahead and get things off her chest so to speak. I tend to be a good sympathizer and my friends can count on me for telling them that I am feeling upset right along with them. I always pray for my friends and let them know that I am doing so. As far as advice goes, I usually try to avoid statements that start with ...."You should do ...... or ........"you need to do ........ I try to say......"Maybe you could try..... or........."Have you ever thought about..........

Generally, I try to refrain from giving unsolicited advice. Basically because if the person has not asked me for my opinion, they probably will not be very receptive to my offering it freely. In fact, I don't consider myself to be one to give advice to anyone. I think of it as giving my opinion only, until I have been exactly you or someone else is, I cannot hope to fully understand why someone may choose one thing over an other. With that being said, there are a few rare circumstances where I have and will in the future intervene if needed. Those rare circumstances where I will give unsolicited advice are when a person is seriously harming themselves or those around them and making very bad decisions. I'm not talking minor bad decisions over a difference of opinion, I'm talking situations where the person is seriously making a mess of their lives. I have intervened in the past in a couple of situations and laid out my opinion only because the situation involved the safety of others. Only under such extreme situations should a person give their opinion without being asked. Otherwise, since the decision will not affect me, I have no right to an opinion. That's just my 2¢ worth. Happy Mylotting!

I think you should give advice only when people ask for it. Sometimes, people feel insulted when they are advised...they feel their intelligence is questioned. So give suggestions and advise only when someone humbly asks for it. Cheers and happy Mylotting

Well it depends. My good friends listen to me when I give advice even though they didn't ask for it because they know I'm pretty experienced when it comes to common sense life issues, but if it's about the latest Wii game they are at a lost!..LOL But usually I don't give advice not unless I'm asked first. I think here on mylot when somebody ask a question in discussion people should help somebody if they are in distress and nobody should judge them because they give a opinion or advice during a discussion. But even though you can give somebody advice it doesn't mean they will listen. I think a person with any types of common sense or intelligence would first gather a collective of advice from many people then evaluate each opinion then decide from there.Actually not too many of my friends need advice at the moment. Everyone I know is still basking in the holidays at the moment ..hehe

When a friend brings up an issue that needs advice, advice is expected. If it isn't expected or asked for, though, I try to keep it to myself. Sometimes that's hard, because help seems so simple and obvious to all but the person with the problem.

As a friend I definitely advise my friend if I find him or her in a fix. It is his or her decision whether he or she will accept it or not. But I think it's my duty to give my friend advice if I feel so.

Hello savypat! I am aware that there are people who get irritated when they are given advice and they are not asking for it. However, there are friends who really care and so they do give out unsolicited advice. Sometimes, when we know that our friends need advice but they are not asking for it, we go out of our way and give them advice anyway. If they value the friendship, they would know why you are giving them one even without having to be asked for one.

Hi pat~I don't give my friends advice unless they ask for it or I feel that they are in some kind of trouble and they really need it. I know that I don't like when they try to give me advice when I don't ask for it. In fact, I get kind of annoyed. I don't like people to interfere in my business so I don't interfere in theirs unless they specifically ask me to. That is usually the perfect way to ruin a friendship.