It has been about a year since starting counseling. A good excuse to reflect on the experience.

• While impossible to know, I think I lucked out with a great counselor on try number one. He is a good listener and occasionally says things that are really smart and useful.
• It is a nice space where I ctrl-alt-delete. As valuable as problem solving and “working through things” are, saying things and then seeing them dissolve is just as valuable.
• It burns you out of thinking and talking about yourself — in a good way. One hour every two-weeks of Ted talking about Ted is enough Ted talking about Ted.
• It is a place to bring what has been creeping around the edges of your mind into full focus. And it is a place to take what has been in full focus and place it in the background for some “slow cooking”.
• On one level relationships are very simple things, on another they are complicated beyond comprehension. People are complicated. Relationships are complicated squared. I can only hope to grock a handful of useful tools to help me with mine in this lifetime.
• While I wouldn’t go as far as to call counseling essential for good mental health, I very much think it is helpful for me.