1950 || the mask, the shadow, the animus, the self

0:00Support comes from wise, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. Your life is global, your money should be too. Some providers promise no fees on overseas transfers. Don't be fooled. Extra costs often hide in bloated exchange rates. Choose wise. You can send, spend and receive money in over 40 currencies. Count on the exchange rates that you'd usually see on Google. That's how millions save billions on hidden fees. Be smart, get wise, visit wise.com, season C's apply. Welcome to the Make Your Dan Bed Podcast. A daily motivation podcast designed to help you get out of bed every morning with a little company from me, Julie America. If you struggle with consistency, let's build a little momentum together, whether you make your bed or not. Good morning sunshine, welcome to another day of the Make Your Dan Bed Podcast. Today I want to talk about Carl Young's four major archetypes. And the main resource is another article from meridianuniversity.edu and it will be available

1:05in the show notes if you're interested. Now Young's approach is rooted in the idea that true mental health comes from a harmonized balance between the conscious and the unconscious mind. It's a holistic approach, looking beyond the symptoms and tapping into one's deeper self, aiming for individuation. The process of becoming the person one is inherently meant to be. But what are the four archetypes? Archetypes in general are innate universal prototypes for ideas, which Young believed shaped our human experience. Now there are a myriad of archetypes for the collective unconscious, but four are particularly prominent in Youngian psychology, the first being the self. The self is often seen as the most intricate archetype. The self embodies the unification of the conscious and the unconscious realms of the mind. It's not the self we consciously identify with because that is our ego, but instead it's a central figure representing the totality

2:06of our psyche as a whole. It's all of us, it's our true self. Symbolically the self can be represented in dreams and myths as figures like Jesus Christ, Buddha, or even symbols like mandalas. It emerges when we are balanced between the various elements of our psyche and the ultimate goal of individuation or the process of inner development and self-realization, really the process of becoming ourself. The next archetype is the shadow. As the counterpoint to our conscious ego, the shadow contains traits, desires, and instincts that our conscious mind tends to reject, or remain oblivious to. This is the repository to our fears, our repressed weaknesses, but also our latent strengths that we've yet to hone. This is often cast as the antagonist in myths, legends, and dreams, but confronting and integrating the shadow can actually lead to profound personal growth. However, if we ignore it, it can manifest into projections,

3:10and when we project, we're attributing our own negative qualities to other people. The third archetype is the animus or the anima. This represents the unconscious feminine side and males, and the unconscious masculine side and females. Really, it's the entirety or the totality of the gender experience opposite to your identified gender. Engaging with and understanding these archetypes can help us understand our relationships and our attitudes towards other genders. The fourth archetype is the persona. The word persona is derived from the Latin word for mask. The persona is the external force and role that an individual presents to the world. It's what we want the world to see. This is the role we play. It's influenced by societal expectations. Although it's crucial for societal interactions, over-identifying with the persona can actually be detrimental. It can cause us to lose touch with our authentic self. It is a necessary construct,

4:14and it allows us to adapt to various social situations. This is what the world sees, our Sun sign, if you will. But young believed if we were going to breach true individuation, we have to look beyond our persona and dive into the deeper layers of our self. Now, there are lots of ways to dive into these deeper layers. Through dream analysis, through doing art, creation, doing deep introspection, or engaging with each of the archetypes. Now, navigating the complex waters of the human psyche requires a structured approach. In the world of youngian psychotherapy, this journey is an arbitrary, but follows a distinct pattern. Carl Jung identified four critical stages that therapists and patients journey through, each with significance and challenges. While linear, these stages often enter weave, allowing for a fluid, patient-centric approach. The first stage is the confession.

5:16Often considered the foundation of the therapeutic journey, this stage is about confronting and verbalizing previously unspoken or concealed personal stories and issues. This is when the therapist is just a compassionate listener, offering a safe space for the patient to voice their traumas, fears, and desires. It's a phase of unburdening, where acknowledging your vulnerability sets the foundation for deeper introspection. The next stage is elucidation. This is where the analytical side comes in. At this stage, the therapist assists the patient in understanding their conscious mind, making them aware of their behavioral patterns, defense mechanisms, and distortions. Unlike Sigmund Freud psychoanalysis, which emphasizes past experiences, the youngian elucidation focuses on the now, the present, understanding current behaviors, and the context of both past experiences and future potentials. The third stage is education. Beyond understanding your psyche, transformation is needed.

6:23This stage revolves around harnessing insights from the previous stages and translating them into actionable steps for personal growth. Mental health professionals guide patients in making sense of their dreams, their daily experiences, and their interactions with the world. And the fourth stage is transformation. This is the culminating phase when profound personal changes occur. It's about reconciling with your shadow, integrating the lessons you learned, and moving towards the ultimate goal of individuation. This is where you begin to harmonize your personal unconscious with the collective unconscious, and align yourself with a more holistic, authentic self. The therapist is meant to facilitate this internal alchemy, and ensure genuine and lasting transformation. Now, according to this youngian life.com, young saw this alchemy as a journey towards psychic wholeness, the realization of the self, the point being there is a hidden wisdom

7:24in the unconscious. And if we can transform it or alchemize it, we can learn how to integrate it into a more holistic understanding of ourselves so it doesn't continue to hold us back and keep us playing small. Throughout history, alchemy has evolved into a symbolic system that not only aims for external transformation, but for spiritual and psychological awakening. It's a bridge between science and mysticism across cultures, and it offers diverse paths to the same goal, elevating the human spirit and discovering the hidden truth within matter and psyche. Now, young was particularly fascinated with mysticism, which is a topic I will be exploring in a future episode. But I think it's important to note that the alchemizing journey is not a linear path, but a process involving opposing forces, darkness and light, chaos and order, dissolution and coagulation. Youngian alchemists stress the need to hold these oppositions consciously,

8:29rather than rushing towards a false resolution for everything. So as much as we need to confront the shadows, we also need to integrate those shadows, which reveals a dynamic tension. But it reminds us that the descent into darkness and fragmentation is paradoxically very necessary for attaining wholeness and union. It's all part of the process. And young emphasize the transformative nature of these tensions, positing that psychological growth emerges from the capacity to hold conflicting elements together in conscious awareness. This integration doesn't imply a complete resolution, but rather the ability to live with paradox and ambiguity, a deeper acceptance of the totality of the psyche. Basically, we can reach a new level of consciousness when we stop fighting the internal friction that exists between who we think we should be and who we actually are. That friction that we've experienced as destructive and conflicting can be a creative tension,

9:34or a motivator, or our drive. It makes us less fragile because we no longer have to pretend to be perfectly one-dimensional and instead can understand that contradictions exist and it is a part of what makes us whole. As always, you can access all of the resources and references from today and the show notes if you're interested. In the meantime, just know I love you so much. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I'll talk to you tomorrow while you make your damn bed. Goodbye, cutie. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Make Your Damn Bed podcast. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss tomorrow's episode. You can follow on Instagram and TikTok at NYDB podcast for occasional updates and if you could rate and review this episode five stars wherever you're listening, it genuinely helps the podcast at its core. And if you have anyone in your life you think might be interested in hearing what I have had to say, it also makes a huge difference in the sustainability and my ability to make this something worth sharing. So if you have

10:37questions or want specific advice you can email me at nydbpodcast at gmail.com. In the meantime, I've been your host, Julie America. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day and I'll talk to you tomorrow while you make your damn bed. Support comes from wise, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. Your life is global, your money should be too. Some providers promise no fees on overseas transfers. Don't be fooled. Extra costs often hide and bloat at exchange rates. Choose wise. You can send spend and receive money in over 40 currencies. Count on the exchange rates that you'd usually see on Google. That's how millions save billions on hidden fees. Be smart, get wise, visit wise.com. Teasoncies Apply.