If you had a difficult parent (or a difficult day), read this
Plus, the video replay of our Candlelight Chat with bestselling author Sahil Bloom!
On this Monday morning, I have three ridiculously good, life-altering tidbits for your week. (They’re actually more than tidbits; in fact each one is a vast terrain; but they can be read quickly, and saved for when you have more time.)
1. First, I just came across this passage from the psychologist C.G. Jung, and think it’s crucial reading for anyone who had a difficult relationship with a parent:
“But no matter how much parents and grandparents may have sinned against the child, the man who is really adult will accept these sins as his own condition which has to be reckoned with. Only a fool is interested in other people’s guilt, since he cannot alter it. The wise man learns only from his own guilt. He will ask himself: Who am I that all this should happen to me? To find the answer to this fateful question he will look into his own heart.” ~C.G. Jung, "Individual Dream Symbolism in Relation to Alchemy," Psychology and Alchemy, CW 12, § 152 (via Laura London, of “Speaking of Jung”)
I don’t think Jung means that the child with a difficult parent should (as an adult) blame him/herself for what happened, but rather that they should: accept the reality of the situation, see clearly who they were before the difficult events ever happened, see clearly who they are now, learn from this, grow wise from this, move forward from this.