Changes Happen in a Spiral

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Always going deeper…

PersonalGrowth

Personal growth doesn’t occur in a straight line; it happens in a spiral.

You will continually come back to things you thought you understood and see a deeper truth…

and we can never go back to exactly where we were in the past. It isn’t possible!

People will often tell me that their journals are repeats of the same stuff – year after year:

“Recently I happened to look at some journal entries from the year 2000. I was shocked to discover I am still whining and  complaining about basically the same stuff as 15 years ago! Different place, different time, but not much has changed. It really hit home for me!”  (anonymous)
•••••
 … but that isn’t really true. The topics may be similar: romance, our significant other, self-destructive patterns, feelings of loneliness, etc. Journal entries can look the same because most people write when they are struggling. TIP: Go back to your journal entries and, with another colored pen, write what you have learned since then. You may be amazed! :) .. because we grow, in spirals.

Making the Darkness Conscious

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Carl Jung

We all have parts of ourselves we aren’t exactly crazy about. Yet true lasting happiness cannot be maintained until we learn to embrace those aspects we wish to discard.

Referred to as “the Shadow”, our unconscious consists of the parts of self that we have, at some point, tried to disown. We’ve built walls, developed defenses, practiced denial, and even built false-selves to camouflage these dark-parts. But try as we might, these shadow aspects show up anyway.

When we face, and embrace these parts, we find they weren’t monsters after all. Misunderstood perhaps –  but not monsters. Once conscious, we experience greater freedom, authenticity, and self-understanding. When we understand ourselves, others will, too.