I wanted to share some beautiful words that my T wrote about our relationship and relationships in general.
Happy Sunday to all!

All of the work we do is important in my mind. Even when we share a laugh or talk politics or share an orange - in those times we are working on the "real" relationship which helps, I believe, honor the boundaries and reality of our relationship and balances out the times when there is a strong transference reaction (e.g., when you feel vulnerable, react to me like other people in your life, have trouble trusting). Relationships are like tapestries, with differing shades of intensity and color, different complexities in the pattern - but it all makes up a whole. I think this applies to closeness too. closeness shifts in all relationships. in healthy relationships there is a foundation of closeness but, at least in my experience, even in my most emotionally close relationships, there are times when I feel closer than others. I think by comparing and labeling, one steps away from the beauty of what is....

[critterlady]

You have a very wise and wonderful therapist.

Originally Posted by critterlady

You have a very wise and wonderful therapist.

Thanks so much critterlady! I think that I most like 1) the way that she uses the word transference because she acknowleges my fearing that she'll be like other people in my life when she's not and not the love transference definition that the term is generally used for--i.e. she normalizes the notion of transference which we all struggle with sometimes as a bad thing, 2) the image of relationships as tapestries, and 3) her acknowledging that our relationship is indeed "real," even if it is bounded by the limits of a therapy relationship.

[rainbow8]

Originally Posted by eastcoaster

I wanted to share some beautiful words that my T wrote about our relationship and relationships in general.
Happy Sunday to all!

All of the work we do is important in my mind. Even when we share a laugh or talk politics or share an orange - in those times we are working on the "real" relationship which helps, I believe, honor the boundaries and reality of our relationship and balances out the times when there is a strong transference reaction (e.g., when you feel vulnerable, react to me like other people in your life, have trouble trusting). Relationships are like tapestries, with differing shades of intensity and color, different complexities in the pattern - but it all makes up a whole. I think this applies to closeness too. closeness shifts in all relationships. in healthy relationships there is a foundation of closeness but, at least in my experience, even in my most emotionally close relationships, there are times when I feel closer than others. I think by comparing and labeling, one steps away from the beauty of what is....

What your T said is beautiful! Thanks so much for sharing it. I like that she acknowledges your "real" relationship as does my T.

[Chopin99]

Thank you for this. I plan to print it and give it to my T...maybe she can take a lesson from your T.