Why do you believe what the therapist says?

Why can't you dance by yourself?

One can. Just like a tree can fall in the forest and probably make a sound. Why would one though .

I don't doubt that the questions are not applicable to everyone.

I don't get the connection between a therapist saying you are an okay person and them taking pride in their work.

stop, the "dancing alone" expression isn't about physical dancing.

Oh, seriously? I thought it was.

I would have understood fencing. Or jousting.

Hankster and I have a long history of me being completely mystified by her posts. So mostly I have been trying to play with her. And Blur some too.

This puzzles me. Why do you believe or get reassurance from what a therapist tells you if you would not believe it if you said it to yourself? Or why believe them in general? Why give them power? Why do you think them righter than you or others are?
I am struck by how many like it when the therapist tells them they are good or okay or compliments them whatever. Or when the therapist gives advice. Or when one of them thinks they are modeling something for a client. Why do you think the therapist is the correct thing follow or be reassured by rather than yourself?
If not belief, but reassurance- again- why be reassured by a therapist? How does it work differently than just reassuring yourself?

Partly for the same reasons I ever believe anyone, give anyone power, or think anyone is righter than I am. If I never thought I was wrong when others had a different point of view, that seems like it would be pretty elitist, lonely, sad, and inaccurate. I often try to consider the other person's point of view if they disagree with mine; I often try to think of ways to accommodate their thinking within mine, or just to change mine, so I can be more accepting and understand more realities. There are also situations where I have strong beliefs- or experience or knowledge- and then I'm okay with disagreeing with their thinking though.

I guess maybe that's kind of my ideal or somewhat-default approach to people in general, whether they're young, old, accomplished, un-accomplished, retarded, gifted, street-savvy, street-ignorant, etc. I hope they have some realities I can identify with and enjoy or learn with them.

Another part of a reason I'm inclined to believe a therapist is because their job is to help me, and I think most of them want to do that, and that they are trying and possibly have some abilities or skills to do that, the same as most professionals make an effort with their jobs and their skills.

I was not challenging those of you who do or trying to talk you out of it nor was I looking for anyone to criticize how I do it. I just wondered if you knew why you did or how it helped you since it is in no way what I find useful. I like to hear how and why even while it is not what approach works for me and since I find this so very baffling.

I've only heard of the saying "the sound of one hand clapping."

I too am unclear what the dancing alone metaphor is about.

I'm sure it's related to the metaphor "it takes two to tango" when used to describe a fight between two people. A fight takes two people participating to happen. If only one does, it's not a fight, it's abuse.

My perception is that people usually post questions because they are questioning their own ways of understanding or doing things. But where you wrote "it is not what approach works for me" it sounded like you aren't questioning your own way of doing things. So then I started wondering why someone would be interested to hear how or why other people do things, if they had no interest in considering how it compares to the way they do things themselves.

I don't agree with this. If only one fights, the other could be being passive aggressive or immune or any number of other things.

I took the dancing alone metaphor as a happy good thing. Not a fight. If I say I have just been dancing alone in the moonlight - I do not mean it as a negative rat all.

Am I the only person who has the song "I Could Have Danced All Night" going through their brain right now?

(Okay. Back to my quiet corner.)

It's the curse of being a musician. I can come up with a song for just about anything and they get stuck in my head for days.