Jung said of a patient that when she first came to him “…she was able to play her traditional role of the supremely wise, very grown-up, all-understanding mother-daughter-beloved—an empty role, a persona behind which her real and authentic being, her individual self, lay hidden.
For those of you who have been wondering what’s up with yesterday’s, “post,” please disregard it. It was an accident. I had been writing notes
Like the woman in my dream, I grew up believing that relationships with my husband and children would fulfill me. So I gave up my passion for horses. Perhaps my friend’s passion for her family was enough.
Five years later my dream came true when husband bought me a white albino gelding with light blue eyes. But it was short-lived: I was pregnant within a few months and my cautious doctor warned me against riding. We sold Bamboo before my daughter was born.
One day Miss Berry, my first grade teacher, announced that we were to have blood tests. In a few days we would go to the school nurse who would prick our fingers, squeeze out a drop of blood, apply it to a glass slide, and then we would go back to our rooms. It wouldn’t really hurt very much she said. Just a momentary pinprick. We must take these permission slips home, have them signed by our parents, then bring them back.
Despite the rapid growth of psychological awareness in the West, many people don’t really get what inner work is or why anyone would want to do it. If you’re one of them, this post is for you. If you’re not, but struggle with some of the issues below, or know someone who does, it’s for you too.
Every child experiences anxiety when it becomes aware of its individuality and vulnerability, and mothers vary in their ability to assuage this, our earliest wound. Very good mothers are naturally gentle, patient, good-natured, reassuring and loving. They make their children feel confident, safe and secure.
“What should I do?” I asked my husband. “I feel like this is a test about choosing between courage and cowardice. Or is it between my noble self and my selfish self?” We were talking about a relationship issue that had been brought to my attention by a timely and bizarre synchronicity.
The thing that makes dividing my time between these two different paths work well for me is that I’m listening to how I really want to spend my time and looking for meaning regardless of where I am.
Recently a reader asked this question: “If a woman performs the function of being an artist’s ‘muse’ and if the artist believes (to paraphrase Joseph
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