So, I have had my first session of Jungian Coaching and boy was it interesting. My coach is the wonderful Nina Pyykkonen, a beautiful Finn with perfect English and a host of different qualifications, from clinical psychotherapy to shamanism.
We started by setting a question. My question was "How can I better engage with and understand the emergent third?" It was a weird question, but the background is that the film I have done for the digital journal moves into this area and it intrigues me. I want to make better sense of it. Plus, the feeling of interaction is like a blessing to me and I want to be open to it.
Then Nina showed me a some cards - about forty - with "values" on them - like loyalty, courage, independence and so on. As we went through I was to choose ten that resonated with me - trusting my instincts rather than thinking about it.
Once we had ten, Nina gave me ten seconds to cut out three. Then another two and another two so that I was left with only three. Curiosity, Love and Wisdom. These were to be my Guides.
Next, I envisioned these three values as entities and asked which would come forward to converse.
I saw them as shapes... Curiosity yellow... like a patchwork of lichen or slime mold (!!); Love a moss covered tree trunk with crannies and folds; Wisdom a black-grey blob... sort of like a short and fat wizard in a dark hooded cloak. Curiosity came forward. They were curious.
For the conversation, I switched places and "looked" and the empty space where I or Curiosity sat and listened.
Curiosity told me that they are the inspiration and the motivation. They urged me to be open-minded and to not cease following the threads of questions wherever they lead, even if into scary places. They said it was not their position to choose what I should explore (that was Love's realm) nor what I might make of it (Wisdom's bailiwick), but they encouraged a scattergun approach, a lot of diversity, then fine tuned by what I found compelling once I had made a start (what I Love).
There seemed to be a warning against trying to define things too early or make things happen. Rather, to be present and allow while paying generous attention to what emerges.
These three are now my Guides and I am to create some kind of memento... and Nina encourage me to discourse with them in Active Imagination.
I really enjoyed the session. I found it liberating and validating. To be with my imagination and to be accepted and encouraged.
That is exactly what I wanted and felt I needed.
Serendipitously, I came across this quote today:
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity” – Simone Weil
That is what Nina gives.
Session two is in a fortnight.
Notably, Buji, who usually has tantrums when I am on Zoom, was chilled out throughout. That felt like he knew that this was right for me. Wise and Loving cat.
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