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Find out once and for all who we are? Impossible! But if we notice and realize what slows us down and what inspires us, this understanding will become a source of vitality.
Summer to get to know yourself better. Strange thought, right? In summer, the mind rests, the body is relaxed and seeks pleasant sensations; in summer we want to use every moment to enjoy warm days and bright evenings. And yet we ventured to invite you to explore your inner world.
Of course, in the summer all our senses are turned outward, but we are less in a hurry and there is a chance to “hear what is happening in our depths and accept the reactions that arise in us when in contact with the elements and other people,” emphasizes psychoanalyst Norbert Châtillon (Norber Chatillon)1. It is in this special dimension, where the usual limitations do not apply, where there is no repetition and routine, that a freer “I” can open up, which is more clearly aware of both its strengths and limitations.
The inevitable complexity of “I”
“Who am I really?” We rarely ask ourselves this question directly. Most of the time, it gnaws at us insidiously, often in moments of turmoil and confusion, when we feel confused, exhausted, uncollected. It is as if our sense of our own wholeness suddenly eludes us like a lizard and leaves us bewildered and alone. These behaviors, these reactions, these choices – are they really mine? Can one and the same person today be numb with fear, and tomorrow take the risk of completely changing their life plans? Or on the same day to show first generosity and sympathy, and then pettiness or aggressiveness? In fact, all this is the elements of the mosaic that make up our “I”.
Read more:
- How to find out who I am?
This “I” is not homogeneous or immutable, it can be compared to an onion, consisting of several separate, different, often incompatible layers. It is a complex, fluid structure that makes it impossible to fully know oneself. “The pursuit of this is doomed to failure,” says Norbert Châtillon. “Knowing yourself completely is just an illusion, a fantasy. We cannot – and this is for the best – control everything, know everything about ourselves, we cannot split ourselves in two and observe ourselves from a distance. We have an unconscious that is only partially accessible to us. But to see and accept different sides, contradictions, extremes in oneself means to know oneself better.
“Give yourself time and inner space to connect with your deepest resources, to hear what comes from within us”
Jung called “the process of individuation” the gradual realization that we are different from each other, that each of us is a multiple, contradictory person, but that ultimately each of us is a whole being who has rich resources. “Based on their history, personality and circumstances, everyone arranges his life, mobilizing this or that resource,” explains the psychoanalyst. These resources, as Jung defined them, are four: feeling (perceiving what is), thinking (understanding and naming what is), feeling (they allow us to evaluate what suits us), and intuition.
Book on the topic
James Hollis
“Pass in the middle of the road”
Renowned Jungian analyst James Hollis has dedicated his new book to the mid-life crisis, which he calls “the pass in the middle of the road.”
Renewable energy
“Each being has its own unique energy,” explains Norbert Châtillon. – Knowing yourself better is also being able to negotiate with yourself in order to live the life that suits us. We have talents and strengths, but we can only build on them if we stop comparing ourselves to others, let go of preconceived notions about ourselves and other people, if we don’t get stuck in repetitive scenarios that often come from the past.” Therefore, it is important to take a break to leaf through your personal history, to sift through your beliefs through a critical sieve, to try to better understand the properties of your emotions, to clear the inner space in order to come into contact with your resources.
Read more:
- Emotions keep us alive
According to the psychoanalyst, these resources that we turn to “are spent and renewed, constantly transforming throughout life.” Simply because at different ages we treat life differently, face different limitations and trials, and our desires and needs change over time. At 20 and at 50, different resources are available to us. But the reservoir where they are stored is always full and always at our fingertips. And everyone draws from it in their own way. It is important to remember that if I am guided by the deepest foundations of my personality, then I will let them guide me, accepting what life offers me and tying it to my inner world, and choosing what I feel is right and good for me. .
Game space
“Knowledge of oneself, passed through the prism of experience, ceases to be a purely mental product,” the psychoanalyst believes. “It translates into a dialogue with our deepest resources, and then we can use the season of relaxation and recuperation to meet with ourselves.” We have built this extraordinary Dossier as a space for experimentation, for a conscious and engaging exploration of what makes us unique, and as an invitation to play with the most vibrant and creative part of each of us.
1 Author of the book “Thinking from the Unconscious” (“Penser depuis l’inconscient”, Grego, 2010).