Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness

Entries from July 29th, 2008

Desert: Depression and Suburban Life

July 29th, 2008 · No Comments · depression, depth psychology, Halton Region, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, life passages, Meaning, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, soul, suburbia / exurbia, Wellness

"Depression" and "suburbia" are two words that you don’t usually see in the same sentence.  Those who promote suburbia tend to want to portray it as a place where happiness and fulfillment abound.  However, as any therapist or counsellor can tell you, depression and anxiety are widespread in the ‘burbs, just as they are in [...]

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Is My Life Meaningful — for Me?

July 21st, 2008 · No Comments · depth psychology, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, life passages, Lifestyle, Meaning, Psychology, Psychotherapy, soul, symbolism, Wellness

One of the most fundamental questions a person can ask  is whether his or her life, taken as a whole, is meaningful to her or him.  This is different from an abstract question about "The Meaning of Life".  There is no abstract universal answer to the yearning that each of us has for a meaningful [...]

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Into the Wild

July 15th, 2008 · 1 Comment · Current Affairs, depth psychology, Film, Individuation, Jungian analysis, life passages, Lifestyle, Mississauga, Oakville, Ontario, Peel Region, popular culture, Psychotherapy, puer aeternis, soul, suburbia / exurbia

If you haven’t seen it, "Into the Wild" is a 2007 film written and directed by Sean Penn, and starring Emile Hirsh.  It is based on the true life story of Christopher McCandless, originally recounted by John Krakauer in his 1992 book of the same name.  It’s a remarkable film, in many ways, and not [...]

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Rages: When Shadow Puts the Pedal to the Metal

July 11th, 2008 · No Comments · anger, compulsion, depth psychology, Halton Region, Jungian analysis, Milton, Psychotherapy, rages, road rage

There is no manifestation in our modern lives of what Jungians call “the shadow” that is more dramatic or potentially more deadly than road rages.  In its Wednesday July 9/08 edition, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported on a particularly tragic and deadly incident which occurred in the town of Milton, here in Halton Region. [...]

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Wireless Email, the "CrackBerry" and The Psyche

July 3rd, 2008 · No Comments · BlackBerry, compulsion, Current Affairs, depth psychology, Halton Region, Individuation, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Lifestyle, Mississauga, Oakville, Peel Region, popular culture, Psychotherapy, soul, suburbia / exurbia, Technology, Wellness

Ever greater numbers of people are carrying pocket-sized wireless email devices, or pocket digital assistants (PDAs) like the RIM Blackberry or the Palm Treo.  As a phenomenon, it seemed to start with people in the financial sector and in IT, but it has spread rapidly throughout our society.  Today an ever-growing number of people are [...]

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Shadow and Soul in the Suburbs (or, Anywhere…)

July 3rd, 2008 · No Comments · Psychology and Suburban Life

There are parts of ourselves that we do not yet know, or that we are not yet ready to acknowledge.  We have an idea of ourselves, a picture of who we are, that is mixed in with who we wish we were, and who we think that we ought to be.  But the reality is [...]

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