In the movie ‘Miss Potter,’ Beatrix who has decided to move out on her own, is asked by her father, “Why do you find it necessary to leave your home?” She replied, “It is not a choice. … I must make my own way.” Indeed, we all must eventually leave both our physical and psychic […]
Loneliness – How do you handle being alone?
Valentine’s Day, whether spent with a partner or by ourselves, often evokes feelings of loneliness. Additionally, we may have been disappointed by unmet expectations from our partner. Loneliness typically comes from a sense of discontent with our social relationships. This social loneliness is often relieved when we reconnect with others, greet people on a walk, call […]
The Myth of Romantic Love
We have no doubt felt the euphoria of ‘falling in love.’ We meet someone who accepts us and offers the possibility of physical connection. We are instantaneously whisked away to the land of romance. We may soon find ourselves obsessing about the person, fantasizing about future scenarios and feeling a new sense of purpose and […]
How Parents Affect Our Adult Relationships
Our earliest relational experiences, usual parent-child ones, program whom we are drawn to and how we act within relationships. Idealized images of caretakers form in our childhood psyches. Jung termed this over-valued, emotionally laden and deified view of mother and father the ‘parental imago.’ Our parents, for the most part, accepted these idealized images. The […]
Doing What Matters Most
T.S. Eliot stated, “Humankind cannot bear very much reality.” To avoid the reality of feeling our feelings and doing what we truly desire, we have become very skilled in doing anything but what we soulfully want to do. Ego often negates what matters most to our soul, and thus, we live half-filled lives of ‘everything’s […]
En garde … How your ego protects you
The ego is the part of you that is associated with the term “I.” As a child, your ego developed by adapting itself to what was compatible with your family and societal surroundings. However, this alignment came with a cost. In order to protect yourself from the hurt or rejection from others, you split off […]
