"This is totally unrelated, but …”

This is totally unrelated, but …

One of my favorite comments to hear from someone working in therapy is: “This is completely unrelated, but …,” because it indicates the person is flowing and choosing to Not Stop Themselves as we so frequently do in regular life.  … and it is Never completely unrelated.  Minutes later there is often a most delightful time where it will dawn on patients that the “completely unrelated” point is actually entirely apt and connected. The “aha”s of such moments, the physical and emotional relief of noticing that “we make sense!” are a very satisfying part of doing therapy and help fuel me as a therapist. 

“It is impossible to speak absolute nonsense when one sincerely expresses what has crossed one’s mind.  What emerges from unconscious depths has an order, a continuity, and a reason of its own..“ (Theodor Riek, Listening With the Third Ear, pg 35)