[AllyIsHopeful]

My Therapist and I never meet in the same room each time. There are rooms that coincide with certain days. Both times we walk into the room depending on what day it is.

For instance I dread Monday and Tuesday sessions because I hate the room in which the session is conducted! That room makes T and I feel like we are having a staring contest to see who could go the longest without laughing or blinking. She laughed and said she was not very fond of that room's setup either. In that room, because of the way it is set up, there is no way for us to sit closer. The couch is a love seat (I guess T and I can get cozy for sessions occasionally ) and a comfy chair across the couch, where she sits.

The other room is more cozy and warm. There are so many possibilities of where we could both sit. I like this room sooo much, it's better than all the others. I feel most comfort in this room and I leave the other room I described above, feeling icky....every. single. time. I feel too detached from her after those sessions. I like leaving my sessions in a "bonded-state-of-mind", holding onto the connection I felt in session...if that even makes sense.

Anyway...I have been journaling and accidentally skipped two pages and since I date the entries, everything was thrown off! OCD's worst nightmare!
So instead I decided to be silly after taking my sleeping medication and made a very detailed and interpreted sketch of my favorite room. The perception of the drawing kept changing, so it looks wacky; But I realized how therapeutic this felt. It felt great to put my memory, of a safe place, down on paper. Now I can stare at it and those warm, fuzzy, *I will see my mommy again soon* feelings whenever I look at my sketch. (Yes, I am experiencing 5 year old, possibly younger, mommy issues with T at the moment. Regression is wonderful. )

I really wanted to share my excitement of a new coping method that I discovered. That is all.

Do you other earthlings have any specific seating arrangements for your sessions? Are there options where you can sit? Are you able to sit closer to T or further from them when you need it?

просто любопытно.

[SoupDragon]

Hi AllyIsHopeful,

it sounds like you are your T have a good relationship with each other, despite the changing rooms.

I always have the same room with my T. There are different options for sitting - we atarted off in chairs then progressed to sitting on cushions on the floor. However since my recent "wobble" we are back in chairs again.

I had generally sat in the same place on the floor, then once after a long time, got the urge to move to a different spot, where I stayed for many sessions again.

I am not sure when we will decide to sit on the floor again - it is more vulnerable down there.

But I too once drew a picture of "The Room Where I Sit" - I have kept it and sometimes look at it to remind me of the stillness there.

Thanks for sharing your own experiences - Soup

[angelicgoldfish05]

I like your new coping method, I think it would be great to be able to do that. I'm always impressed with anyone who takes a blank piece of paper and makes a drawing on it. To me that just does not come naturally and it takes so much effort and self-coaxing to try and not criticize the whole thing too much.

I get the OCD thing too, especially in regards to journaling. I hate it when the pages stick and then you have two blank ones in the middle. You can't rip out the pages because there is writing on the other two sides. Ahh, yes it is OCD nightmare lol!! How long have you been journaling? And do you journal mostly about therapy or just in general? Journaling has been such a wonderful coping tool for me, although I've not been able to pick it back up for over a year now. I used to write - every single day in it. But then I met with my ex-t, and I felt really self-conscious about it, and it seemed way too self-absorbed, so I stopped. Granted, now I'm starting therapy with a new t (which also feels really self-absorbed) and posting on these forums more often (more self-absorption), which makes me feel a bit of shame I suppose. My ex-t, I feel like he thinks I should just be a completely new person instantly who always thinks of others, doesn't remember my past at all, and just completely enters into an existence of serving others. I'm not sure why I feel this way about it. I feel like he judged me for spending too much time or focus on trying to resolve the past, whereas for him, he just moves on with a thing (experience, or I guess a person) and doesn't look back. I wish he could understand that if I could snap my fingers and just instantly be like that, I would. I'd do anything for him. I'd be instantly better and never feel bad about myself again.

Well, this doesn't relate much to the question you asked, about the room and the chairs, etc. With ex-t, we would often sit side by side (either on a park bench type thing outside cause I was more comfortable outside and liked being outside), or in his office with the couch and chair type situation sitting across from one another. New t, there are two chairs and sitting across from each other.

[precaryous]

We have the same room each week. There are two chairs and one love seat. T sits in a chair and I sit on the love seat. I'm not a fan of the love seat as it sinks down and is difficult to get out of it.

PrevT once said it didn't matter- I could sit where ever i wanted. So, once we swapped chairs. It felt kind of odd. Not bad, though.

[Wysteria]

Hi Ally...
I really enjoyed your post...and am glad you found a new outlet for your 5-yr-old! I'm not a great artist, but I do keep a sketch pad around lately and just draw...sometimes angrily..sometimes with lots of symbols of things...relational drawings (like this is T and this is me and all the different sorts of connections or blocks)...or I was in this one group that was triggering me badly and did not want to do the exercise....and asked if I could stay in room and just draw my feelings, the T allowed it but then I had to also explain the symbolism in what I drew to the group...(that was hard, but many commented that they resonated with the images)..like you, I've also drawn a "map" of my safe place where I can go when I feel insecure or unsafe, or just words and how they connect or change meaning or what they mean to me...like a list of anger words and how they ranged from little to big and which ones turn in and which ones turn out...or just whatever.
Since your 5 yr old resonated so well with the exercise, perhaps it's time to get a sketch pad and little kit of pencils (for shading and darkness) and let those happy and sad emotions come out...let things just flow out without using right brain to overanalyze them...
I don't know if this makes any sense...but most of all, I'm glad you found something that helps and works for you...
Gentle hugs,
WB