Honoring the depths of your psyche
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
- Carl Jung, The Philosophical Tree, CW 13: Alchemical Studies, Para 335
Your psyche has all the answers. The task is simply to listen.
What depth psychotherapy is and why I use it
All of you matters
Depth psychotherapy, in very simple terms, is allowing our unconscious to be part of the conversation with our conscious mind.
We just have to learn how to listen and then how to integrate the knowledge we receive.
The unconscious speaks to us on many levels.
The mind ~ the body ~ our energy system ~ the Self ~ the collective
The signals we receive can come to us in many forms:
Symptoms
Defense mechanisms
Complexes
Dreams
Fantasies
Synchronicities
Images
Energetic experience
Somatic experience
Archetypal experience
While we may not explore all of these forms or areas as part of our work together, I recognize that these parts of you are ever present and are informing who you are.
The unconscious psyche is organic. Like any other living being it moves towards growth and continually attempts to reestablish a balance between the internal and external world.
If you aren’t considering what your unconscious has to say,
you may not be getting the whole picture
I like to think of working with the unconscious as a cyclical process of bringing attention to the voice of our unconscious psyche, amplifying what we receive into greater consciousness and then integrating it into our lives so that it may become a new lived experience that informs who we are.
This process then repeats as new material comes to the surface and builds upon a now growing foundation which then allows for deeper and more meaningful awareness, understanding, amplification and integration.
How do you work with what is unconscious?
Attention
The first task in developing a conversation with our unconscious is to find a way to bring attention to its presence. We spend time getting to know when it is speaking to us. This can be accomplished in a variety of ways and each person’s approach will be unique to them.
Some methods of bringing attention include:
Being present-focused
Using creativity
Connecting with nature
Recording your dreams, fantasies and synchronicities
Paying attention to your instincts and flashes of insight
Connecting with your body
Amplification
Once you have received intuitions, images or other signals from the unconscious psyche, there is the task of amplifying them so our conscious mind can relate to and experience their meaning.
This is not always easy, as the psyche has its own language, but doing so can bring about new insights and deeper connection to our understanding of who we are. This can propel healing forward in profound ways.
Some methods of amplification include:
Working with your dreams and fantasies
Active imagination
Processing emotions
Creativity
Expressing it with a safe witness
Integration
An important task is to integrate the now conscious content into our lives. This can be done through an intentional effort or, as is often the way with our psyche, it will happen organically.
When we integrate what has come to us from the unconscious we can develop a sort of x-ray into what is deeply motivating us. What is propelling us forward in the world.
Some methods of integration include:
Generalizing to the world
Allowing for consolidation of new consciousness
Taking risks
Ritual
Finding a like-minded community
“When the soul wishes to experience something she throws an image of the experience out before her and enters into her own image.”
- Meister Eckhart
As your conscious mind grows into a relationship with your unconscious psyche, the future becomes full of possibilities.
By knowing and integrating both the conscious and unconscious aspects of your psyche, you are allowing all of you to be expressed.
Your conscious mind becomes connected to a deep foundation from within you that can never be lost. You are connected to your Self.
You can make choices, without fear, doubt, shame or other trauma responses limiting you.
You are directing your own life with purpose and meaning. You have the compass, you can choose which path to explore, you are not afraid of the darkness and you are your own guide.
Your future becomes an adventure of exploring your soul’s image, of discovering the breadth of its dimensions, of getting to know who you truly are.
