"Environmentally Friendly Therapy"

I've never heard this term used before, but I thought of it while watching a videotape of a therapy session between a therapist, the late Insoo Kim Berg, and a high school student from Texas. During the session, both the therapist and the patient were highly attuned to each other, so much so that after watching the tape one of my classmates expressed disbelief that the entire session was not somehow staged by two actors. What fascinated me was that not a word, not a gesture, not a single moment of the session was wasted. At bare bones it was really just two people talking, listening and relating to each other on a very deep level. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could be so attuned to our lovers, our friends, our parents or our coworkers? The good news is that it is possible, and we don't have to be in therapy for it to happen. Turn off the cellphone, stop thinking about what you're going to have for dinner, and just be present.