Content Within

This summer, I came across a funny meme. It pictures the psychoanalyst Carl Jung together with the phrase: “yes, but have you tried engaging with the content WITHIN?”

The statement seemed directly addressed to me. I had been quite active on a few Discord servers over the past few months, and sharing pithy memes has often been my way of keeping people entertained. I felt called out!

Distributing content isn’t just a pastime to me. Sharing content is part of what I do, as a paid journalist and magazine editor. However, I hit a wall not too long ago. My work for a media agency – covering freight and logistics in Belgium – was halted when I fell sick for a couple of weeks in August. I remember being exhausted, unable to concentrate, and feeling deeply morose about the way our industry was evolving.

At the same time, I had been granted the opportunity to helm one of our print publications, in the role of editor-in-chief. It’s a position that comes with extra perks, but something inside me wasn’t pleased with this turn of events.

What was happening?

On the podcast This Jungian Life, three Jungian analysts discussed self-sabotaging behavior in a recent episode. Lisa Marciano, one of the hosts, offered:

When we find ourselves sabotaging ourselves, the first thing is to get curious. Because it might be that psyche is saying: “You’re not meant to be a lawyer.” Or it could be that you’re staying small and safe. Or it could be a kind of childhood trauma.

Was it really self-sabotage? What I do know is that a mysterious decisive moment had occurred when I least expected it, sitting on a couch, sometime mid-July. To explain it in the simplest terms: I realized how I was One with everything I saw, heard, and thought. This odd event made me reach out to people I knew from the past, and others I hadn’t met yet. Gradually, I began gathering a series of subjects to write about, clarifying what had now been uncovered.

If soul-searching introspection sounds like your topic of interest, then I invite you to join me in exploring, expressing, and engaging with the ‘content within’.

Show me yours and I’ll show you mine. ; )