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Patients sometimes get annoyed at me because I wait for them to start the session. "Why don't you ask me how I'm feeling?" one patient asks. "Why don't you ask me questions?" another complains. I try to explain the importance of letting the patient start the session. The patient's first words of the session, the selection of topics and the order of topics is of major significance. And what they leave out is equally important! Some patients complain because they don't want to free associate; they are uncomfortable letting their minds wander. They don't want to see what might emerge. But sometimes a patient CANNOT start the session because they have so much anxiety or feel so empty that they cannot speak. That is important to find out, but it will not become known unless, at least for a while, I let the patient begin the session.