If you have a rant or other emotion you need to express, maybe this can be a safe place for it, assuming that everyone understands and avoids the roadblocks to communication (listed below). You can do rants etc in separate threads, of course, but they may not come with very helpful guidelines.
I mentioned recently here that people in general still don't seem to know how to communicate well about emotions, even though psychologists found out how about 50 years ago and had written about it fairly widely. I should have said 45 years ago, though it may have started before what I first heard of.
What most helps those experiencing emotions is non-judgmental listening.
Passive listening is listening without talking much, just saying "uh-huh", "I see" and stuff like that, or just using body motion of understanding.
Active listening is saying what you understand as their emotion, saying things like "You're sad?", "That upset you?", "It makes you mad?"
You can also say what the emotion seems to be about, if you like, to show even clearer understanding, like "You're sad that the pet died?", "You're upset about the neighbor's nosiness?" etc.
Roadblocks to Communication are roadblocks mainly when the other person has an unpleasant emotion, but some of them can elicit such emotions too. Some of them (http://parentssource.com/roadblocks.article.9.00.asp) are:
My examples of active listening above involve questions, but they're about what the emotion is, not about other facts surrounding a problem.The first two are easily recognized as blocks to communication.
•Name-calling, ridiculing or shaming, ("Don't be a crybaby!")
•Withdrawing, distracting, humoring or diverting, ("Not at the dinner table.")
The next five place us in a power position [] and rob [the other person/s] of their own power.
•Ordering, directing or commanding, ("You must")
•Warning, admonishing or threatening, ("If you don't, then")
•Moralizing, preaching or obliging, ( "You should")
•Advising, giving suggestions or solutions, ("Why don't you")
•Judging, criticizing, disagreeing, or blaming, ("You're just being lazy")
The next three seem on the surface to be very helpful but hidden within is the trap of ignoring the "feelings" of [the other person/s].
•Persuading, arguing, instructing or lecturing, ("Here is why you're wrong")
•Interpreting, analyzing or diagnosing, ("What you need is")
•Probing, questioning or interrogating, ("Why?")
You can start just by mentioning what your main emotion/s is/was today. Or you can tell part or all of your story or rant.
My emotions today are/were: fear of running out of time to find a good place to stay in California or the west coast; impatience with not being able to crossdress here yet, as I had hoped to before I came here; loneliness not having close friends in person here. I'm going to possibly meet someone on Thursday for possible friendship.