The Soul of Work One of the fundamental problems with our experience of work today is that we do not have sufficient complexity in the way we imagine this central human activity. Too often, when we ask questions of our work, they touch on issues of security, stability, and predictability, but not at all on […]
“How did I ever let myself end up in this position?” Ken sat heavily on the couch in my consulting room across from me, looking thoroughly weighed down by his life. He was overcome by sadness, regret, frustration, and a feeling of helplessness. His friends had encouraged Ken to get treatment for depression, but he […]
The Unlived Life of the Parents One of the most potent forces upon the psyche of the individual, according to C.G. Jung, is the unlived life of one’s parents. By this he means the potentials of the parents that have remained unrealized and the personal qualities that have never been developed or expressed. Jung, however, […]
In my previous two posts I have written about the call to adventure and the journey to find one’s own voice that follows that call. In this post I want to talk about what it means to begin speaking out and the courage it takes to do so. At the conclusion of my post Hearing […]
The Hero’s Journey From the perspective of Jungian Psychology, myths and fairy tales are images of typical psychological experiences presented in story form. As Joseph Campbell demonstrated in his seminal book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the mythological motif of the hero’s journey is one of the most ubiquitous themes in mythology. The journey […]
Career Counseling is essentially a process that can help you to come to know yourself and the world of work better in order for you to make career, educational, and life decisions. Career counselors work with people across the full spectrum of life’s stages, including adolescents and young adults just entering the work force, experienced professionals […]
One of the most eloquent writers on the subject of finding your life’s work is the poet David Whyte. There are very few people talking about the subject of work with his level of depth, imagination and insight. Because Whyte is a poet, it is not surprising that throughout his writing there are sentences that ring […]
Many of the people I work with describe the primary experience that brings them into therapy as one of feeling lost. It is probably not surprising that for several decades now it has been common for people who are on a path of self-exploration and self-development to express their quest in terms of “finding themselves.” […]
Asking Questions “The mere formulation of a problem,” said Einstein, “is far more often essential than its solution.” In other words, when a scientist thinks about an issue, it is the kinds of questions that she asks that are most important. This idea is no less true in everyday life than it is in the […]
Image courtesy of David Castillo Dominici / FreeDigitalPhotos.net This is the conclusion of a two-part post in which I examine several common experiences of discontent at work, as seen through the days of the week. In part one, I introduced signs #1-3: Monday Mourning, Terrible Tuesday, and “Can’t Get Over the Hump Day.” This second post resumes […]