by DAadmin | Apr 13, 2020 | Resurrection
As a long time student of Jungian theory, I tend to look at everything that crosses my path in terms of what it symbolizes for me personally, as well as what it may symbolize in the culture. On this Easter Sunday, symbolizing the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, I couldn’t help but think of the life/death/life cycle that I have studied for so long. Whenever there is a death of some kind, there will also be dormancy, a dark period, so to speak, and then new life. Whether you believe in Christianity or not, you may see that the time between Good Friday, and Easter Sunday can be seen as the dormancy period, with the rising of Jesus from the dead bringing forth the new life. In order for new life to arrive, a death of some kind must occur.
This is an unprecedented time for most of us. We are isolated from friends, family, and life as we used to know it. We are uncertain as to when it will end, and we are uncertain as to what life might look like when it does end. Life will most likely not return to normal any time soon. This may make you sad, fearful, and maybe even angry. Since there has been a death of sorts, we must grieve the life we used to have, tending to the grief, but also hanging on to hope. Hope for something new, something better.
Perhaps this time is the dormancy period, that space between death and new life. Death of our old way of being, uncertain with not much seeming to happen, but new life awaiting after the dormancy. We will all suffer in life to some degree. In fact, the first rule in Buddhism is “Life is suffering.” We lose loved ones, we lose dreams, and maybe our hopes are dashed in some way. Often the person that we lose is ourselves. Life in some way beats us down, or we feel weighted down by old emotional wounds that we have not fully tended to. Perhaps our marriage has failed, or we look in the mirror and don’t recognize who we have become.
Do not lose heart; for this does not mean that all is lost. This may be your dormant period before new life. So, on this most symbolic of days in the Christian world, I ask you – what in you needs resurrection? What in you needs to be allowed to die? Where is there the opportunity for new life? What can be planted now in order to bring new life to you in the future? Take advantage of this period of dormancy to plant the seeds for a new way of being, a new way of living. The most important thing that you can do in this period of dormancy is start putting seeds in the ground.
by DAadmin | Nov 29, 2019 | Fear
Webster’s Dictionary defines generativity as “having the power or function of generating, originating, producing, or reproducing”. Other words that come to mind include creating, inspiring, envisioning, and enlivening.
I have found myself coming back to this word, “generative” again and again over the past few weeks, both in my work with clients, and in my own life. So what does this word mean if we apply it to our lives? The ability to be generative in one’s own life is to be able to create new life, over and over again. The ultimate in generating new life is to give actual birth to a child, but there are so many other ways that we can bring forth new life. We can give birth to an idea, and bring it to fruition. We can give birth to a new way of thinking, or a new way of experiencing the world. We can, and should, give birth to ourselves, over and over throughout the course of our lifetimes. We are all creative beings, filled with endless potential for creating and generating ideas, plans, and projects. And yet, so many of us feel stuck, stagnant, unable to change something that doesn’t quite fit anymore. We may feel powerless to change, stagnant, and unable to bring forth anything new.
One of the biggest roadblocks to generativity is fear. Fear keeps us frozen, locked in place. We may be afraid to try something new because our efforts haven’t been supported in the past. Maybe our confidence has been diminished early on in life, and that lack of belief in ourselves has stayed with us throughout our lifetime. Perhaps we fear others will laugh at our efforts, or that we will be rejected in some way. Or maybe the fear of failure keeps us stuck, so we stop ourselves before we even get started. Fear is ever present for most people, and quite honestly, if we ever want to get our projects off the ground, we must come into relationship with our fear, rather than rejecting it. What does it mean to “come into relationship” with our fear? It means inviting the fear to sit down with you, and initiating a conversation with it, soothing it, much like you would a child who was fearful about something. Asking the question “what are you afraid of”, listening deeply to what the fear is telling you, and then tending to the fear with gentleness, but firmness, much like a parent would to a child who was fearful. In other words, feel the fear and do it anyway (great book, by the way!).
I don’t mean to minimize the effect that our fears have on our lives, or to simplify something that can be very complicated and deep rooted within our psyches. However, if we allow our fears, or our misguided beliefs about ourselves to dictate how we live our lives, we will miss out on the incredible joy of reinventing ourselves over and over again.
What do you want to give birth to? What has been gestating within you that is ready to be born?
