Thursday therapy

[Confused sailor]

Oddly enough after a session , it can take me up to three hours to regain my self enough to drive , my therapist office is a hour away . My record thus far has been 4 hours to make that one hour drive back, yesterday was odd. My appointment is for ten am   Her office is in a busy mall. But down a quiet corridor,  I got there right on time, turned handle on door. It was locked ... takes me everything I have to get my self there, so you can imagine my * moment , it is Thursday check. It is 10 am check , no messages or missed calls on phone. Check , so why the heck is the damn door locked . I even made sure I had right door .i must have looked like a fool standing there . Just at that moment a security guard happened by. She asked if I needed help,   I just nodded. And said the door is locked and I have a appointment,  just like that she took out her phone and called the office .  She said unlock the damn door you have a client out here. Then hung up ,a few seconds later A very sheepish receptionist open door , the security guard smiled at me as I said thank you. Then did the kindest thing put her hand on my shoulder, then walked away , It was just a smallest gesture , but it brought tears to my eyes , reminding me that there are caring people out there ...  needless to say session was a bust after that

[Blueberry]

  I sometimes cry when people are kind to me too. I used to cry waterfalls at it, in fact.

[Three Roses]

Im so glad the security guard happened by Judy then! Moments like that can restore my faith in kindness. Thanks for sharing!

[Kat]

Thank goodness for kind gestures. 

I'm sorry it takes so long to regain yourself enough to drive after your therapy sessions.  Have you mentioned this to your therapist?  My T and I had to do a lot of work early on to ensure that I was shored up enough to leave at the end of each session.  (It didn't always work.)  In fact, now that I'm thinking of it, we developed a little ritual that we still use at times.  If things have been really intense, we'll stop a bit early and I'll ask for a pet story.  She'll think about what her pets have been up to and tell me about one of them.  Or I'll tell a story about one of my pets.  It gets my mind off of what we've been discussing, but it also signals my psyche and body that we're done and that I'm safe.  If I've been in a dissociated state, it helps ground me and bring me back. 

[lambchop]

Confused Sailor, I know that feeling - I've had therapists yawn during sessions, make appointments and be no shows, try to get me to do things I didn't feel served my best interest, forget the most traumatic things I shared, even being told I'll probably never heal at a final group session. If it wasn't for my first therapist who set the bar so high, I'd give up trying but continue to search for my next Viola.

I had an experience with kindness recently that also overwhelmed me. I needed a statement of death for my dad (a man I miss for only a handful of pleasant memories) notarized. The young lady at the bank could've just signed it and I'd be off. Instead she asked intuitive questions about my circumstances and offered compassion almost bringing me to tears. I quickly replaced my sadness with humor so I can go about my biz and left. ,

I couldn't let her kindness go without acknowledging her. I picked a card with a cheetah on it and blank inside. I hand wrote the sentiment that like the endangered cheetah, compassion may be destined for extinction as well and encouraged her to keep cultivating it. I was thrilled when I received a call (she works at my bank) to tell me that not only was she appreciative, she took my card to her staff meeting and the boss shared it with the team. Kindness can spread 

[Rainagain]

Kindness is key, simple yet very powerful.