Kurt Vonnegut Archives - The Year(s) of Living Non-Judgmentally

I just read a New York Times article titled “What Therapists Don’t Say.” There seems to be some fascination with that — the premise of the TV show Shrinking is that “a grieving therapist starts to break the rules by telling his clients exactly what he thinks.”

What I don’t say, in an individual therapy session, includes

You think that’s bad? Let me tell you about my problems!
I’m distracted.
I’m afraid you really don’t want to change.
You should do this.
I don’t think I can help you.
I wish I were doing something else.
That hurts my feelings.
I have to pee (this one was mentioned in the New York Times article).

I don’t say any of those things because (1) they are passing, momentary thoughts and (2) unhelpful. Also, when I have a thought that I don’t say, I take it as important information — often a window into what the other person is feeling.

Do you see anything that therapists don’t say in my images for today?

Sometimes I do say a World Holiday or what the Daily Bitch says in a therapy session, if it’s relevant.

Here’s what I find on YouTube when I search for “what therapists don’t say.”

Now I’m wondering what you would say in the comments section, below.

Here’s something I say every day:

These days, I’m on the verge of tears.

What can I do when I’m on the verge of tears?

Name it.
Distract.
Cry.
Look up quotes about tears.

Tears come from the heart and not from the brain.

— Leonardo da Vinci

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not a mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, of unspeakable love.

— Washington Irving

It is such a secret place, the land of tears.

— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.

— Robert Frost

Nothing dries sooner than tears.

— Samuel Richardson

Tears are the summer showers to the soul.

— Alfred Austin

The tears of the world are a constant quality. For each one who begins to weep, somewhere else another stops. The same is true for laughter.

— Samuel Beckett

More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.

— Saint Teresa of Ávila

Sympathizing and selfish people are alike, both given to tears.

— Leigh Hunt

Beauty of any kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.

— Edgar Allan Poe

The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see nature all ridicule and deformity .. and some scarce see nature at all. But to the eyes of the [hu]man of imagination, nature is imagination itself.

— William Blake

I cry very easily. It can be a movie, a phone conversation, a sunset — tears are words waiting to be written.

— Paulo Coelho

In art there are tears that lie too deep for thought.

— Louis Kronenberger

When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough.

— Maurice Maeterlinck

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.

— Kurt Vonnegut

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea.

— Isak Dinesen

Those quotes have me on the verge of tears and on the verge of sharing some recent photos.

Here’s another quote about tears:

Music should strike fire from the heart of man, and bring tears from the eyes of woman.

— Ludwig van Beethoven

Even though “should”s and male ideas about the differences between men and women can put me on the verge of tears, that quote is still a great introduction to today’s music.

Are you on the verge of commenting?

I am on the verge of ending today’s post, so thanks to all who helped me create today’s blog and — of course! — to YOU.

Posts Tagged With: Kurt Vonnegut

Day 3790: What therapists don’t say

Day 2101: Verge of tears