Individuation | Brian Collinson

Entries Tagged as 'Individuation'

In January, with Mind, Body, and Instinct

January 20th, 2011 · No Comments · archetypal experience, archetypes, body, Carl Jung, consciousness, cravings, dreams, inner life, instinct, Jungian analysis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, seasonal affective disorder, self-knowledge, The Self, unconscious, wholeness

This post is much more directly concerned with the subjective experience of mind, and especially of body and instinct…. Modern humans can be very cut off from the instinctual basis of life, and even from being aware of our bodily existence…. But, even so, as Jung tells us, the instinctual side continues to function, along with the whole broad psychic processing of of inner and outer experience. It’s always with us, and one important way to move closer to wholeness is to work actively to be aware of that.

Twitter, Personal Growth, Self Discovery and Self Creation

January 7th, 2011 · 3 Comments · Jungian, life transitions, personal growth, Psychotherapy

If you’re interested in quotations on Twitter that concern psychotherapy, Self and personal growth, as I tend to be, you start to notice a very interesting to-and-fro of ideas about what it is to grow as a person. There is a deep division into two distinct camps on a very fundamental question concerning the nature of the Self. We could call one school of thought the “Self Discovery” camp, and the other, the “Self Creation” camp. Whose view of growth is the right one?

Jungian Psychotherapy, the Dream and the New Year

January 1st, 2011 · 4 Comments · archetypal experience, Carl Jung, depth psychology, dreams, Identity, Individuation, inner life, life journey, Meaning, personal myth, personal story, Psychology and Suburban Life, therapy

As individuals, we at New Year are confronted with the problem of the death and renewal of our own conscious attitude, with the very deep level question of “What is meaningful for me now?” and “On what foundation can I base my life, as I move forward into it?” There was a time when the answers to these questions were ready-made for many in our culture. In our time, for many, pre-made answers will not suffice. Many of us need a personal connection to realities that will sustain us through the journey.

Jungian Psychotherapy on Job Search and Self Search

December 15th, 2010 · 2 Comments · Identity, Individuation, Jungian, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, Self, self-knowledge, The Self, vocation

Does Jungian psychotherapy with its emphasis on the Self have anything to do with job search? I emphatically believe that it does. The issue of job search actually takes us right inside some deep inner questions, if we let it. If we are open, it will lead us to ask questions like: “What is it that I really, most deeply, want to do?”; “What is most meaningful to me?”; and, “What is my vocation?”. To even begin to answer those questions, a person must start to get to know his- or her- self.

Stress, Power, Resilience and Myth, Part 3: In Myself

October 31st, 2010 · 7 Comments · depth psychology, Identity, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, personal myth, psychological crisis, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, resilience, Self, soul, therapy, wholeness

In this post, I would like to try and say something about the places in which I believe I really found some sources of resilience. If I had to point to one single characteristic of this small group of therapists that helped me more than any other, it was this: they really, really knew how to listen. My therapeutic journey has enabled me, ultimately, to find a kind of acceptance of my life. Insofar as I can make any meaningful sense of psychologists’ use of the word “resilience”, this is it.

The Not-So-Simple Task of Simply Being Honest, Part 1

August 25th, 2010 · 1 Comment · depth psychology, Identity, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, persona, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, psychotherapist, Psychotherapy, Shadow, truth, unconscious

We all like to feel that we know ourselves, and that we are fundamentally honest with ourselves, but is it so? Sometimes deliberate not-wanting-to-know keeps us from being conscious of things that we really need to understand for our own individuation process. To set yourself on the course of being fundamentally honest with yourself is to set yourself on the path of encounter with the unconscious.

Sarah Palin, “Mama Grizzlies” and the Mother Archetype

August 15th, 2010 · No Comments · archetypal experience, archetypes, Carl Jung, collective consciousness, depth psychology, mother archetype, parent-child interactions, popular culture, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, symbolism, unconscious

Andrea Huffington commented recently in the Huffington Post on Sarah Palin’s use of archetypal imagery in the political ads that she has recently run with incredible success online. Huffington seeks to use the concepts of Jungian psychology to analyze Palin’s message. In my opinion, it’s a fruitful approach.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 3: Through Phoenix Gate

August 11th, 2010 · 4 Comments · complexes, depression, depth psychology, guilt, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, regret, Shadow, soul, therapy, unconscious, unlived life, wholeness

Hopefully I have succeeded in making one very central thing clear: regret is not some peripheral thing in our lives that is going to be cleared away by simply improving our thinking. It strikes deeper. It is much more fundamental. How then are we to deal with the presence of regret in our lives? To answer this question in our own personal way, we have to meet this question for ourselves head on.

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 2: The Power of Regret

July 29th, 2010 · 2 Comments · complexes, compulsion, decision, depression, depth psychology, guilt, Hope, Individuation, inner life, Jungian analysis, Jungian psychology, life passages, midlife, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, regret, soul, The Self, therapy, unconscious, wholeness

In my last posting, I tried to open up the whole subject of regret, and the powerful and sometimes crippling place that it can occupy in our lives, and how we can be held in slavery to regret of all the choices we could have made differently, or courses of events that could have turned out differently. In this posting, I’d [...]

Escaping the Grip of Regret, Part 1

July 26th, 2010 · 2 Comments · complexes, compulsion, depth psychology, guilt, life passages, midlife, Psychology, Psychology and Suburban Life, Psychotherapy, regret, soul, therapy, unlived life, wholeness

Regret can be a potent emotion, and a great many of us have experienced its power. In my next few postings, I will be examining the phenomenon of regret, and the way it impacts us. It can have a huge grip on us. It can even imprison us, and embitter us beyond words. But, let me ask a question that might seem strange: Is there health in regret?

Brian Collinson

Journeying Toward Wholeness