It’s one thing to get well; it’s quite another to stay well and thrive. The psyche is such a confluence of negative and positive dynamics. One day we’re set on healing, the next instant we’re working against ourselves.Self care, its stabilization and furtherance, I’ve come to believe after nearly forty years as a depth psychologist, is the most challenging aspect of psychotherapy and personal healing and…

The heroine in “Beauty and the Beast” could have easily believed she was a victim. Beauty’s mother died when she was young. When her father lost all of his fortune they left the city, where she was free to read and do as she pleased all day, and moved to the country. Beauty then had to do all of the housework, cooking, and cleaning, while her sisters did…

Metaphors function to stimulate and catalyze inner transformations.

These are eleven key metaphors for change that are present in the literature of all world cultures*:

• Transitioning from caterpillar to butterfly
• Awakening from the dream of reality
• Uncovering the veils of illusion
• Moving from captivity to liberation
• Purification by inner fire
• Going from darkness to light
• Moving from fragmentation into…

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When I was growing up, my mother frequently said that I was “accident prone.” Perhaps it’s because I broke my leg when I was two by “putting my foot down” when the neighbor kid was pushing four of us on a carriage swing. I wanted him to stop pushing so hard and when screaming didn’t work, I tried another tactic.

My mother was probably right, I think I’ve had more than my share of injuries and broken bones.

When I think about all the desires I have in life, having peace of mind…

Follow the yellow brick road… This phrase is so familiar that it’s become a part of our modern day conversation. We all know what it means. All we need to do is follow the obvious path, which will lead to the desired destination.

The Wizard of Oz story is about following the yellow brick road home. It’s a symbolic map of an unfamiliar inner terrain. The destination is the heart. This old story provides fresh opportunities to generate new insights and to help us navigate challenges…

For Jungian analyst and professor, Jorge de la O, the desire to become a therapist began in the late 1970s when he saw Violet Oaklander[1] the founder of Gestalt therapy with children and adolescents, at a confluent education conference at USC. Oaklander presented some slides on the process of sandtray (a somewhat different process from Sandplay, the Jungian approach to sandtray which was created by Jungian analyst Dora Kalff)[2]. When Jorge saw the trays and the work Oaklander was…