Posted by Wittgenstein on December 5, 2007, at 5:01:24
In reply to when my analyst begins talking..., posted by twinleaf on December 4, 2007, at 20:17:56
I enjoyed your post Twinleaf.
When I have these moments with my analyst they are special/precious to me too (and I always remember them and go over them again in my thoughts) - sometimes I feel I am avoiding 'the work' when one of us side-tracks - for example, if I glimpse something in his room and ask about it (or some other question that comes to mind that I want to ask about him) but they tend to bring us closer and prove serendipitously productive. Like with you, these moments tend to occur during the silences. It's funny, people always talk of awkward silences but silences can also be so comfortable.
The longer I see my analyst, the more I feel a desire to know more of him. In the beginning I was afraid it would be intrusive to ask, but one session he asked out of the blue if I knew the painter Lucian Freud (not sure how the topic came up but he already knew that I like art) and then he got a book from his desk with the artist's work and asked if I would like to borrow it. This was an important trust-building moment for me.
What kind of things does your analyst keep in his room? Mine has a lot of pictures and sculptures, besides the normal things. A couple of times I've asked about something and he's let me go over and pick it up to look closer - one time a wooden carving he'd brought back from Tanzania on a visit to his daughter. I guess if I would lie on the couch these types of interactions would less frequently arise, which would be a great shame.
Witti
poster:Wittgenstein
thread:798825
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20071204/msgs/798872.html