About this episode
“One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
— Carl Jung
Jung is pointing at something most of us would rather avoid. The path doesn’t run through the light we imagine — it runs through the dark we won’t look at. And the darkness rarely announces itself as darkness. It shows up as a reaction that’s far bigger than the moment that caused it.
I’ve been sitting with my own triggers lately, and instead of managing them or explaining them away, I got curious and followed one all the way down. What I found waiting there wasn’t a flaw or a defect — it was a guard. Something that had been standing watch over an old wound for a very long time, doing exactly the job it was built to do. It even had a name, once I was willing to give it one.
Then I did something that initially felt really uncomfortable but it turned out to be one of the most intimate things I’ve done: I introduced it to Jacqueline. So in this episode the two of us go into this together. What is a trigger actually pointing at — and why is the reaction always bigger than the moment? Who are these protectors that show up for us, and what exactly are they guarding? Is a protector an enemy to be defeated, or something to be met, named, and thanked? And what happens to a relationship when you introduce yours to the person you love?
All of this and more in the next hour.
— Carl Jung
Jung is pointing at something most of us would rather avoid. The path doesn’t run through the light we imagine — it runs through the dark we won’t look at. And the darkness rarely announces itself as darkness. It shows up as a reaction that’s far bigger than the moment that caused it.
I’ve been sitting with my own triggers lately, and instead of managing them or explaining them away, I got curious and followed one all the way down. What I found waiting there wasn’t a flaw or a defect — it was a guard. Something that had been standing watch over an old wound for a very long time, doing exactly the job it was built to do. It even had a name, once I was willing to give it one.
Then I did something that initially felt really uncomfortable but it turned out to be one of the most intimate things I’ve done: I introduced it to Jacqueline. So in this episode the two of us go into this together. What is a trigger actually pointing at — and why is the reaction always bigger than the moment? Who are these protectors that show up for us, and what exactly are they guarding? Is a protector an enemy to be defeated, or something to be met, named, and thanked? And what happens to a relationship when you introduce yours to the person you love?
All of this and more in the next hour.
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