The book
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus: A Practical Guide for Improving Communication and Getting What You Want in Your Relationships saved my ass more than once in my first relationship; it started me on the path to learning just how different men and women are in the way they think, how to navigate and how to appreciate it.
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk is bar none the best book on empathic listening I've read, and explained in an easy to understand way.
There's lots of gold here in this thread, and I can really relate to some of them. As a guy, what's been hardest for me is to let go of this instinctive feeling to want to solve my girlfriend's every problem, and to just be a listening hear, let them rant and be confident that they can go off the deep end and come back strong again.
Is this the general gist of the difference between men & women? Would love to hear your thoughts.
@Wulfen, I second appreciating your posts. Very insightful
P.S. I rounded up some empathic listening techniques in my old
Empathy Before Solutions post.