I am not . . . I am . . . (Thank you Carl Jung!)

 I am not what happened to me, 

I am what I choose to become.

Carl Jung

Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. 

Carl Jung

I am a big fan of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and his work has been influential in a key area of my life: ongoing recovery from alcoholism. The first quote above was one I don’t recall hearing before, so I appreciated when it showed up on Insight Timer this week. 

It really nails the futility of victimhood. I am not negating the difficult times and losses in my life, or anyone else's; I am encouraging choices that help me, and you, heal and transform.  That is recovery work in a nutshell. 

Here are some more words of Carl Jung's and mine from previous blog posts. 

Nigredo, a post from January 17, 2017

Psychiatrist Carl Jung and others of his time compared the alchemist idea of nigredo to the human ego; how stemming from our darkest times and deepest despair can come light and growth. And how at least some of our problems of our own making, thanks to oversized or undersized ego.

I relate to this idea. With the disease of alcoholism, I had to face the darkness in my life, hit bottom, roll around in deep despair at times, and feel intense emotional pain before I started climbing out. Only with the help of a Great Spirit and others did I start that climb and make it.

Who? Me? from November 15, 2017

"Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves." 

(Carl Jung)

It reminds me of this saying:

"When we have one finger pointing at someone else, we have three fingers pointing back at us.

I am the only person I can change, and that can be a tough job. Other people help though, sometimes by being a confidant and hearing me out as I process my own thoughts and feelings and reach some clarity. (Thank you to all my confidants.) 

And at other times, people help me in the way that Carl Jung speaks of here. They may be strangers or people I know quite well. They help me reflect on things like being judgmental, self-righteous anger, self-pity, perfectionism, selfishness, and more. They reflect back to me those things that I continually need to work on. 

And that quote sandwiched between all of this? That one speaks to the introvert inside of me. I may be aging, but I am also awakening.