This is my first blog entry and therefore it will be more of an introduction of myself and of what you will find here in the Blog.
Without repeating too much of what you have come across in my “About Me” page, I am a Jungian oriented psychologist. This is not to be confused with a Jungian Analyst, who is a person who has completed the certification training at a Jungian Institute (we have one of those here in Denver) – perhaps I have future designs on completing the training and becoming an official Jungian Analyst but we’ll see – the idea of diving back into what is essentially another doctoral degree causes me some panic, erm, I mean pause.
Being a “Jungian oriented psychologist” means that I see us humans, and what we go through psychologically and emotionally in the way that Jung saw us. We are essentially these clumsy, wonderful, messy, hypocritical, creative, hurtful, bungling beings trying to figure out how to be ourselves. This also means that our suffering always, ALWAYS, has meaning. And this means that we have so much depth to us, that the resolution to our pain, the solution to our problems (if there is one) is already within us. Our growth, recovery, development, and progress all stem from the process of tapping into that stuff that is already within us.
That, in a nutshell, is where I am coming from psychologically.
I’m hoping to use this forum, the Blog, to discuss current news, discuss psychological issues, and share my musings about what it means to be human. If you permit me a bit of a soap box rant, we as a culture have significantly downplayed introspection and self awareness to our detriment. So, this is one little piece of my effort to help us all move past the cultural messaging and invite you all to look a little more inside, into areas you haven’t looked before.
I also intend to share things that I might call “educational.” There is so much misinformation in the world right now about psychology, mental health, and “mental illness.” Unfortunately, false conceptions about the human mind are rampant because they are evocative elements to include in news stories, political arguments, and the reinforcement of our perceived social standing. If I were dead, I’d be rolling over in my grave at 90% (maybe more?) of what I read in headlines or hear on the news about mental issues and human psychology. And don’t get me wrong, my own field is more often than not culpable in this. That’s a whole lot of grave rolling. So, because of all this, I will also share articles that I think are important to a correct understand of what’s going on “behind the curtain” of our minds.
Who do I think I am, telling you all what is correct?! How DARE I! Well, simply put, I’m an expert! And in true Socratic form, what this means is the more I learn, the less I know. There is an interesting barrier that comes up for us “mental health professionals.” Call it ego, or cognitive dissonance, or a ham sandwich, we “MHP’s” often get caught up in our own degrees and believe we KNOW what everyone needs or what is going on with everyone. I constantly have to talk myself down from that ledge – so that I can admit that, while I have studied theories, philosophies, research, and I have worked with hundreds of people, I can’t know what is going on with any one person because I am NOT that person. It requires a great deal of courage, apparently, to say “I don’t know.” Jung famously said to people starting out in mental health, “Learn your theories as well as you can, but put them aside when you touch the miracle of the living soul.” This brings me back to the point I made earlier. Everything you need to heal and grow is already inside you. My job is simply to do what I can to guide you back to that stuff.
A final note on contacting me. If you have any questions, comments, or corrections about anything I’ve written, please contact me at pepe.santana.phd@gmail.com. I have disabled the comments section of my blog posts because I do not want this place to be a discussion site. I am relaying information that I believe is important, and I welcome your feedback. If you wish to discuss with me further, we can do so via email. That is preferable to the “public forum” of a comments section. I have too often seen wars of verbal abuse occur in the comments sections of articles and will not allow that to happen here. I hope you understand, and all this being said, I do warmly welcome your communication with me directly about anything I post here.
Thanks for reading and even subscribing if that is something you’ve been so inclined to do. I hope not to bore you but to help you see yourself more wholly, see the world more deeply, teach you a thing or two, and to occasionally blow your mind.
Happy Humaning.
