Check engine light single flash and pause then 12 flashes, what does this mean?

I wanted to know how to determine what a single flash and pause then 12 flashes means and then pauses and repeated 12 flashes I sat there for about 10 minutes so I might be wrong as well about this. I am not sure how long it takes to sit there and count them or when it will restart the flashes all over again but I'm not sure what it means. Also, Honda told me that the flashes I counted when I made the light come on aren't the real codes but that when the light comes on, on its own that's when the codes are the right ones? But I am 90 percent sure they were the same both ways today. I am not experienced in this so I could honestly have counted wrong and not sat there long enough so I can always try again. I hope I make sense.