Paul Anka’s song lyrics, ‘My Way,’ popularized by Frank Sinatra, succinctly states, “For what is a man what has he got / If not himself then he has not / To say the things he truly feels / And not the words of one who kneels.” These sentiments reflect the concept of individuation and the […]
Our Unlived Lives
For everything we choose, some other thing is unchosen. Sometimes, especially during childhood, decisions are made for us by parents and circumstances (e.g., relocations, deaths). Other decisions (e.g., choice of partner, career) are seemingly made consciously by our adult selves. ‘Seemingly,’ because as children we instinctively adapted to our parents’ states of mind. Either we […]
Our Inner Partners
Like the anima in the male psyche, a woman’s animus goes through developmental stages. The first stage represents the epitome of physical power. This energy is the stud, the take-care-of-me, the protector and the baby-maker. Examples would be Adam, Tarzan and the athlete. The next stage brings the husband-father animus. Here we see the man-of-action […]
Finding Your Own Path – Individuation
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. These lines from Robert Frost’s poem, ‘The Road Not Taken,’ suggest that there are two roads in life – a personal, individual and less travelled one and a collective, popular one where most […]
Synchronicity
Our worldview, which usually explains happenings using the scientific concept of cause and effect, tends to doubt experiences that are not measurable and verifiable. Thus, when events coincide in intriguing ways, we often attribute these to mere chance or state, “It’s just a coincidence.” However, in some cases, the happenings may truly be synchronistic. According […]
Kairos – the time is now
The ancient Greeks had two terms for time – ‘chronos’ and ‘kairos.’ Chronos refers to the human-made, measurable and predicable chronological or sequential time. It is associated with clocks and calendars. Kairos, on the other hand, means the ‘right or opportune moment’ – a moment of undefined time in which something special happens. It is […]
