This Jungian Life Podcast

How can we understand the superficial label assigned to masculine behavior in today’s meme-driven style of discourse? The Dream: I am walking on what seems to be mountainous hills. A little ahead of me is what feels like my teenage daughter and a friend. It’s kind of like twilight. Then I see a giant size footprint on the hillside. Huge, like a natural wonder-of-the-world type of site. I point at...

Jung was one of the primary theorists who added to our understanding of the psychological significance of dreams, and working with dreams is often a central part of an analytic process. What is the Jungian understanding of why we dream? What does it mean if we don't dream, and what are some ways of learning to work with dreams? We discuss things one can do to help with dream recall, and ponder whe...

Jung pioneered the technique of active imagination, a process by which the ego engages with imagery and content generated by the unconscious. Active imagination can help us understand our dreams, and lead us into new psychic situations. On today's episode, we share some personal examples of active imagination, discuss some suggestions of how to engage in it, and explore what active imagination has...

“We don't so much solve our problems as we outgrow them. We add capacities and experiences that eventually make us bigger than the problems.” CG Jung Anxiety is one of the most common complaints that bring people into therapy. While it can be difficult to differentiate anxiety from healthy fear we all agree that finding an ally to stand with us makes a big difference. We explore the many underlyin...

Why do Jungians care about fairy tales? What is their relevance in analysis? How do they differ from myths, and why do they matter to us still? Find out what fairy tales have mattered most to our clients, and why Lisa gets cranky when people criticize fairy tales for being sexist.   Here's the Dream We Analyze "I dreamt of a big cockroach. It was standing like a human and it was going to be transf...

Synchronicity is a concept that has fascinated thinkers across disciplines for decades, and few have delved as deeply into its nature and implications as the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, synchronicity refers to meaningful coincidences that defy rational explanation but that feel infused with a sense of significance or destiny. But how do we recognize such coincidences, and what...

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Twilight, True Blood. Vampires are perennial stars in popular entertainment. How can we understand vampires psychologically, and what does their tremendous popularity tell us about our culture? This week, we look at the transformation of the vampire archetype, explore how vampires live in all of us psychologically, and trace the return of the feeling function in modern va...

Sex? Money? Passion? Intellectual companionship? Kids? What are factors to consider when choosing a life partner? Should you be practical, or follow your heart? How is this decision different for men versus for women? We offer some ideas.   Here's The Dream We Analyze: "I was in my parents’ house. My mother was showing me some renovations she had done in the bathroom. Suddenly, in the mirror, I sa...

The standard psychiatric understanding of auditory hallucinations is that they are a symptom of serious mental illness, and ought to be treated with antipsychotic medication, but could there other ways of understanding this phenomenon? Can such symptoms ever have meaning in their own right? We explore whether voices could sometimes be the psyche's attempt to heal itself. In the show, we mention th...

Is alcohol dependence a misplaced expression of a spiritual thirst, or a collapse into a regressed and infantile state? We discuss Jung's involvement in the establishment of Alcoholics Anonymous. Jung's letter to Bill W. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I’m accused of something I’m guilty of: loving the pharaoh’s daughter as she was my own. There are pictures and notebooks on my bag that prove it. So...

What’s the difference between shaming, being ashamed, and being shamed? Which of these is most alive in the culture right now? Why do we feel existential shame, and how can it be healed? Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I was on one side of the Grand Canyon with my graduate school classmates and it was daylight. We all had on our caps and gowns. There was a thin land bridge reaching over to the other...

We take a look at emotional affairs and imaginal affairs. Both are more common than you might think and can lead us into an experience of our own depths. Here's the Dream We Analyze: "I was with my eldest child and my husband. We were in my old hometown. I suddenly felt an urge to visit an ex-boyfriend. I knew he was unwell even though I hadn’t spoken to him for many years—call it a sixth sense. I...

The Shape of Water recently won the Academy Award for best film, captivating audiences with its dream-like images of other-worldly love. What can a psychological perspective contribute to understanding this film? HERE'S THE DREAM WE ANALYZE: "I was in a large, dark room. About twenty feet away was a door opening toward me with very bright light. A tall man with dark hair was looking at me. The dre...

Are hookups a joyous celebration of unbridled sexual expression? A defense against intimacy? All of the above? Here's the dream we analyze: "I am at a family reunion. I see two women on the sofa at each end. They are identical twins. I am shocked. I did not realize we had twins in the family. I see a young child sitting on the floor between the twins. The little girl gets up and is trying to walk....