Anyhow, I was just going to mention re: the mirroring that one of the real benefits for us has not been (or not merely been) in terms of acknowledging each other's emotions, but in actually *understanding* each other. To the extent that we sometimes misunderstand the other's intent/meaning/interpretation, "mirroring" back each other's statements in our own words ("So I'm hearing that you mean ...... etc") has been a really useful tool. In that sometimes we discover that each other's seemingly-ridiculous point of view wasn't what they meant, at all. Sometimes we can get to talking at cross purposes and think there's a problem when there really isn't one.
"Show me a completely smooth operation and I'll show you someone who's covering mistakes. Real boats rock." -- Frank Herbert
