Time for some detailed work with dreams. [We can also use active imagination without using dream material, in a process discussed later in the article.] We’ll look at how to use Jung’s concept or approach called ‘active imagination’ in working with dream characters (people, creatures, animals). This process can be especially helpful when dreams are […]
Individuation: Becoming Who We Truly Are
You may be familiar with author Henry David Thoreau’s saying, “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.” Thoreau metaphorically advises one to ‘be yourself,’ but what does it mean […]
Unsolicited Advice: Why We Give It & Why We Don’t Like Getting It
According to John Bradshaw, “co-dependency is the most common family illness.” Co-dependence is a set of maladaptive, compulsive behaviors learned by a person in order to survive in a stressed or dysfunctional family. We learned these behaviours from a dysfunctional family which involved a primary stressor such as the presence of alcoholism, depression, passive/aggressiveness, actual illness or death, […]
Knowing is Over-Rated
For the most part, knowing is over-rated and over used. Knowing IS necessary for being in touch with and clarifying our feelings, wants, values, purpose, what brings us meaning and what matters. We need to know these in order to set healthy boundaries. However, in other situations, needing to know often gets in the way. […]
Emotional Wellness Stress Disease Connection
Last time we learned about the ACE Study and how childhood adversity has long-term impacts on a person’s mental, psychological, and physical well-being, as well as one’s spirituality/sense of Self. Whether in childhood or as an adult, because of chronic adversity (read ‘stress’) elevated levels of toxic molecules (e.g., adrenalin, cortisol, etc. ) are released […]
Better Understanding Our Dreams
From psychological, emotional and brain/neurological perspectives, dreams are created for compensatory and even healing reasons. Professor Daniel Siegel stated that dreaming is “one of the important ways we integrate memory and emotion.” Indeed, it is the feeling tone of the dream which is more important than the actual content. Often, dreams can help process unresolved intense […]
