The Archetype of
the Human Shadow
The concept of the shadow was derived at by Jung after much influence from both Freud and the neuro-psychiatrists like Janet, who spoke of the phenomenon of double consciousness (Casement, 2003). There is a long history of humans grappling with the concept of the shadow, not in the form of the term, but in the experience of a ‘light’ and a ‘dark’ side of...
The Baobab Tree
A look at symbolism
The baobab tree has a strong symbolic link to our psyches and spiritual symbolism. The baobab in African myth has been described as the upside down tree, as well as the tree of life. According to one legend, these beautiful trees were uprooted by God and planted upside down with their roots as their branches to punish them for their vanity. Various references in...
So….How are we coping...
in the pandemic?
I thought about all the sage advice that is being put out there…mindfulness, setting goals, using this time to re-evaluate your life, and spending quality time with our family, among many other good suggestions out there. This is a time of incredible uncertainty, a time of grappling with parts of ourselves that tap us on the shoulder every now and then or...
The Fear of Dying
and what we learn about ourselves
Rumination in the Coronavirus Pandemic
Just a short while ago all of us were going about our normal live, blissfully unaware of the brewing pandemic. What consumed our daily lives was our routines and structures. This gave us security and certainty. It also gave us a focus on life and...
Death anxiety
In the times of a pandemic
The human life has an interesting mix of existential anxiety, celebration of life and the conscious awareness of our own death. From this we gain the possibility of creating meaning, but also the complementary fear, apathy and emptiness. As human beings, we respond to our inevitable death and...
Some days are difficult
Some days our souls stand up & fight
I see people struggle every day through not just one problem, but a myriad of conflicted confluence of emotions, thoughts and beliefs. They walk into my practice desperate to understand their psyches, desperate to find ‘the answer’; thereby ending all suffering in one fell swoop. And here is the paradox:
HOW AM I GOING TO DO THIS?
Relationship & Lockdown
A day, a week, a month, even a year. How long will I have to cope with this lockdown or the social changes due to the coronavirus pandemic. As I am writing this we are in week three of lockdown in South Africa. I live with my wife and two children just outside Port Elizabeth in a small coastal village. We have space. We have a...