Month: November 2016

Individuation means becoming your authentic self. It means reaching your full potential by accepting and embracing all of your parts. It means having a deep understanding of yourself and using that understanding as a platform for expansion. I’ve always thought of it as the expression “of being in the world, but not of it.”

Carl Jung brought this term to light and wrote about it at length. Individuation would be the goal of any person seeking health and wholeness. The modern day term closest to it would be self-actualization.

“Psychologist Carl Jung described this as individuation, the process by which the personal and collective unconscious are brought into consciousness to reveal one’s whole personality. In short: it is the process of becoming self-actualized….The individuation process leads one ever closer to the person he is meant to be, with both a sense of awareness and a sense of wholeness. This journey is not just one of becoming whole, but also one of expansion. Through individuation, boundaries of who we are and what we allow ourselves to know and feel, extend even further out into the far reaches of what is possible: our potential.” (Dr. Gross, Huffington Post, 12/30/2014)

Knowing that you are an empath, acknowledging it and embracing it as a true expression of self, is a huge step in individuation. We think and feel deeply within ourselves, but we can also feel the emotions of others and intuit many experiences of the collective unconscious. Empaths have a special place to realize in the world. Treasure your gift. Value yourself. Expand your boundaries.

I am a seeker, and I believe that you are too, or you wouldn’t be reading this page. We seek truth in spirit through experience and feeling. We want to KNOW.

We are drawn to those who can teach us more about faith, compassion, and our expanding spirit. They give us the bravery to expand our definitions of faith and to turn inward to brighten our own lights. My spiritual teachers have given me hope and healing, and by their example, have led me to new experiences and depths I would not have traversed on my own.

Spiritual teachers have appeared in my life at difficult times, and each one has taken my hand to lead me deeper down my own spiritual journey.  It has not been the easy way, but it has been the meaningful way. Each person had something to teach me, something to show me, something to lead me to a more enlightened state of consciousness.

I am grateful for those seen and unseen who guide me toward light and wholeness and oneness. May we believe that which we feel until it becomes that which we know.

It’s a stormy time for our country this election season. I can feel the anxiety that is pulsating through our people. They are very worried. Empaths can feel this worry more acutely. We can feel these unsettling emotions hovering all around us and passing through us. It’s hard to keep the negative emotions at bay.

So what can we do? First, be clear with yourself about what you believe. Then you will not be as open to absorb other’s feelings that may be toxic or at least draining for you.

Second, be careful about what you put in your brain. When you see something, that image is burned into your brain forever. When you hear something, it is never erased. Turn off the TV. Delete from social media. Unplug the hatred. Exercise control over the images and sounds that are entering your life from without.

Nurture yourself as best you can during this turbulent time. Help what ails you. Eat better. Seek out quiet. Focus your emotions using books, music, and pictures. Love your pets. Spend time with those who are steady and supportive.

Reassure yourself and others that this too shall pass. The election will be over, and the sun will still rise again on Wednesday morning. We are a strong people. We will be okay.