Growing Down: Avoidance, Decay, Depressive Cycles

(Maternal) Ambivalence and the Plague of Analysis Paralysis

In this month's discussion I explore the psychological experience of ambivalence through my own example of holding two very real and conflicting feelings about wanting to and not wanting to be a mother. We cover the difference between ambivalence and indifference, and explore what it means to have the capacity to sit in the tension of holding opposing truths. In a world that assumes there is always a right and a wrong, and that every decision we make must have some monumental significance to the grand scheme of our lives (they don't), it's an extraordinary struggle to live in what Carl Jung noted was the very natural state of the psyche, the ambivalent state. I hope you enjoy the conversation, and I encourage you to reach out and share your own experiences with ambivalence. Where does this phenomenon trip you up in your own life? Can you make a decision not to make a decision? Learn more about my work and how to go deeper at erikaleighraney.com

Growing Down: Avoidance, Decay, Depressive Cycles

In this essay I explore the riches of the depths of psyche, particularly as experienced through our depressive cycles that arise alongside habits of avoidance. What does it mean to tend the flowers but not the roots? We are culturally obsessed with striving upwards, and we avoid the earthen, darkly whispers of the unconscious below the surface where the seeds of both or suffering and creativity are buried. These are some basics of Carl Jung's depth psychology. The quote from James Hillman comes from Re-Visioning Psychology, p. 99.

Start Here: Welcome to this space.

Welcome to Again, but with Feeling. This is a place where I share essays, talks and ideas on the nature of consciousness, modern life in western culture, and the ways we blaze our paths through career, relationship, and creative endeavors while contending with the collective obsessions around linear growth, shortcuts and efficiencies. I chose to begin sharing my work through the audio format because our daily lives have become extraordinarily vision-centric, as we stare into small screens for just about everything. My perspective is archetypal, personal and political. In this space I intend to share insights from my research in depth psychology as they apply to how we live and work, and the cultures we are creating. For more about me and my work, you can visit erikaleighraney.com or find me at the same handle on Linkedin and Instagram.