Karen Ake

Wholeness is not achieved by cutting off a portion of one's being, but by integration of the contraries.   ~ Carl G. Jung

Who lives beneath the protective layers of adaptations, others' expectations, fixed identities, and patterned ways of being with yourself and others?  This is a deeply meaningful and necessary question.  One that is best explored in relationship that honors the slowed cadence, deep listening, and honest communication for one's essence to potentially arise into consciousness.  There are no quick fixes for we are humans learning to embody spirit and soul, not machines.  

When I tell the truth is when I cease to identify with the thing I am trying to protect.   ~ Ram Dass

We may feel we have no choice but to run from, fight with, identify with, or remain imprisoned by memories and feelings that keep us from living this present moment, unable to imagine a vibrant future for ourselves.  I have experienced this place and meet with others who too describe feeling held captive by depression, anxiety, and loss of meaning in life.  Together, when we turn toward these daunting forces to develop and practice efffective ways of engaging then new paths have the potential to arise and become visible and relatable.  This experience is held in Carl G. Jung's use of the word teleology or telos - a new awareness, becoming who we are to essentially become, no longer trapped in unconscious patterns.  It can sound abstract but the direct experience is anything but.  It is an embodied effort that only we can do as we develop an honest grounded relationship with ourselves.  This honest way of living shifts not just our inner lives but reverberates beyond our bodies touching many aspects of relatedness with life.

You must give birth to your images.  They are the future waiting to be born.  Fear not the strangeness you feel. ... Just wait for the birth, for the hour of the new clarity.      ~ Ranier Maria Rilke

While I am trained in Internal Family Systems and Brainspotting, as a Candidate in the Inter-Regional Society of Jungian Analysts I am increasingly incorporating a depth-psychological approach to explore the inner world.  With curiosity toward unconscious processes we will collaboratively shine some light within and explore dreams that you recall upon waking, daydreams, feelings, memories, thoughts, and impulses and work toward developing the capacity to acknowledge, interact with, and understand these energies better so that inner-relatedness has a chance to develop and deepen.  This is a process that requires commitment and patience as we make space for and tend to subtleties and intensities experienced somatically and relationally that we have attempted to protect ourselves from.  

If your strategy is to avoid, it will make the distance between you and yourself wider and wider.  At first the strategy will feel like relief, but later it will feel like you are no longer at home within your mind and body.   ~ Yung Pueblo

If you feel resonance with what I have described, please reach out to me directly via phone or email to set up a 15-minute introductory phone call at no charge.