AUTISTIC therapist

Today one of my beloved therapists called me autistic. He hasn't bothered to say it was a mis-sent message, so let's assume that he believes he meant what he said. Let's play with that:

His appended message to that comment was: "Since when did you start talking to yourself?" Hmmm. That's a useful question. First, let's define autism, shall we?

au·tis·tic [ aw tístik ]

(adjective)
Definition:
affected with or caused by autism: showing evidence of autism, e.g. failure to use language and perceive surroundings in the expected way

au·tis·ti·cal·ly (adverb)

And then, there's "Talking to yourself:"
Definitions of Talking to yourself on the Web:

Intrapersonal communication is language use or thought internal to the communicator. Intrapersonal communication is the active internal ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talking_to_yourself

Hmmm. Both useful:
1.) The Autistic way: To use language NOT in the way expected.
I think i best learned to think in a useful "autistic way" when i learned NLP re-framing. I later learned to ask: "what's the context in which that question would be useful?" That assumes that even a seemingly nonsensical question could have a usefulness.
Also, the semantic tools of NLP and hypnosis seem to be an unexpected use of language in that most people don't communicate with a purpose and calibrate to see if their message was properly delivered. Most people just assume that the "other person must be dumb because they didn't understand what I said." This lies in stark contrast with the NLP directive that basically states that "if i wasn't understood, i did not deliver the message in the way it would be best understood by my intended receiver." This model of language transfers the burden of communication on the conveyor of the message and eliminates the hardly useful labeling of the message recipient as "dumb."

2.) The "Intrapersonal Communication Way:" Internal communication.
Doesn't everyone do this?
The way I understand it, everyone talks to themselves in one way or another, at one time or another. Everyone has one variation or another of an internal dialogue. The content and quality of that internal dialogue often dictates how well that individual does in relating to or talking to the world at large. With positive - or at least neutral self-talk, people are generally well-adjusted, productive little beings.

Hmm.. I'm pretty good with being autistic. I need a bit more practice, though. And i probably have to learn to have better conversations with myself.