My T doesn't do anything. I don't mean that in a dismissive or contemptuous way. What he does do is listen-- but none of that "active listening" (I hate that) where someone just repeats what you have to say like it's a pop quiz on memory. Uttering my words back to me hasn't usually felt like listening in or out of therapy. He might say that it makes sense to him from a certain perspective from something in his own life, or he might ask a clarifying question on occasion (but direct questions are rare).

What he does do is help me listen to myself about what I want, big and small things. Maybe it's this phase of therapy as I transition to a different place in life, or maybe it's that I'm past the trauma processing I did a few years ago. Then he "did" stuff like help me container things at the end or help me slow down when i needed to and helped me not avoid when I asked him too.

But I would be annoyed at my T if he started explaining, "and now I'm mirroring your body position to show I am here with you" or some such. Anything that sounds like it should be in a bubble on a cartoon commenting on the ongoing process would make me unhappy. In fact I think that part of what I'm trying to achieve in general is being mindful in my interactions with people, and that means I just want to be in the moment, in the interaction, not all hovering above it observing it.