Don’t you think it is interesting that with humans most of our perceived problems are with the other? We don’t own it as a problem with ourselves, or the way we naturally are, but, rather, the problem is located elsewhere. These problems fall into several categories: Present, but Deficient The one we are [...]
Pi and All of Life Sometimes Life throws us into a boat with creatures that seem very foreign, strange or threatening to us in some way. Life of Pi is a beautiful, in some ways mythic story of the hero’s journey by author Yann Martel. As I contemplated the title, I thought about the meaning [...]
Lately, a higher number of people than usual have been contacting me about “anger management” issues. Perhaps it has just become another buzz word. Either these inquiries are on behalf of significant others (who never call) or they are calling about themselves, but then for some reason or another, they usually fail to make [...]
Les femmes d’une certaine age – I think this sounds much better in French. It suggests a certain mystery, a wisdom that is not worn on the surface, a wicked sense of humour that can delight, prick or charm – depending on the situation. Recently I was asked to talk about the needs and issues [...]
The Spirit of the Times: Introduction to the Red Book. One of the most import books of this century was begun a hundred years ago. It is a documentation of Dr. Carl Jung’s encounter with the collective unconscious, a journey that was initiated by his vivid dreams prior to World War I. These were [...]
“Why is it that we sometimes can't feel close to someone we've lived with for a long period of time?” This was the heartfelt question from a young woman and mother who was struggling in a relationship with her partner. The relationship had been going sideways for years, but she was reluctant to break [...]
Although a great deal has been said about the nature of projection in the current discourse of pop psychology, it is nevertheless a concept that seems to cause a lot of confusion. The idea behind it is that things, people and events that we are interested in carry meaning, feeling or energy to the [...]
This was the on-going and delightful message in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – an uplifting movie about ageing, death and renewal. It made me laugh, because the young East Indian man was so relentlessly optimistic about the future prospects of his seedy and run-down hotel, which had clearly seen better days. His unfailing good [...]
Although I never met him in person, I consider Muktananda as one of my great teachers. One of the most important lessons I learned from him was this: Be the Seer, not the Seen. Over the 20 odd years of working as a psychotherapist, I have noticed that most people struggle with the whole notion [...]
The Inner Community: Archetype-and-Identity Part Two A middle-aged woman was complaining about her relationship with her daughter-in-law. "Sometimes I hate who I turn into when I am dealing with her," she said. "The problem is more with me than it is with her, I think. Nevertheless, I still can't prevent that side of me from [...]