Carl Jung was an important figure in the world
of psychology. He started his own school of psychology called
'analytical psychology.' But his influence went even further, touching
areas like psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, religion, and philosophy. People often call his way of thinking 'Jungian
Philosophy.' He wrote many books, like 'Psychology of the
Unconscious' and 'Man and His Symbols.' In psychology, Jung is famous for talking
about 'archetypes,' which are like big ideas in our minds. He also talked about the difference between
our conscious mind, the things we know about ourselves and our unconscious mind, what we
don't know about ourselves. One of his interesting ideas is the 'shadow,'
which is the parts of ourselves we hide away in our unconscious. According to Jung, being happy is more than
just feeling good for a little while. It's about feeling content deep inside because
you accept all parts of yourself, even the ones you hide in your 'shadow.' He believed that true happiness comes when
you understand and accept all aspects of who you are. To find happiness, you have to go on a journey
to discover and accept yourself, including the parts you know and the ones you don't. It's like finding balance within yourself
and knowing who you truly are. When you do this, you can find a deep and
lasting happiness. So, in this video, we'll explore how to be
happy, drawing inspiration from the philosophy of Carl Jung. 1. Focus on your mental Health Jung says ‘Even a happy life cannot be without
a measure of darkness.’ To be happy, you need to be healthy, both
physically and mentally. This means eating well, sleeping enough, and
exercising. But mental health is just as important. When you're not feeling well physically, you
might also feel anxious or sad, and when you're mentally unwell, you can get tired or have
headaches. So, it's important to take care of your mind
too. Many people think they don't need to pay attention
to their mental health as long as they feel okay. But that's not true. Taking care of your mental health can help
you understand yourself better, set goals, and feel fulfilled. According to Jung, the first step to being
mentally healthy and happy is to explore your subconscious mind. This is the part of your mind where things
you're not aware of are stored, like past experiences, biases, and hidden feelings. Your conscious mind, on the other hand, is
what you're aware of. To be mentally healthy, you should face your
subconscious, especially what Jung calls "the shadow." The shadow includes the parts of yourself
that you don't like and try to ignore, like anger or selfishness. Most people push these parts away, but that
doesn't make them disappear. Instead, they can come out unexpectedly and
cause problems in your life. To avoid this, you need to get to know your
shadow. It doesn't mean you have to act on these negative
feelings; it means you should acknowledge them. The steps are simple: explore your hidden
feelings, accept them, and integrate them into your life. For example, if you discover you're envious
of someone, admit it to yourself. Then, think about how you want to deal with
that envy. You might even turn it into inspiration and
ask for advice from the person you envy. In summary, understanding and accepting your
hidden feelings is crucial for good mental health and happiness. It's the only way to prevent these feelings
from causing problems in your life and stop them from interfering with your goals. 2. Nurture Relationships
According to Jung “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances:
if there’s any reaction, both are transformed.” A second vital ingredient to happiness, Jung
says, is having good and healthy relationships with yourself and others. In order to grow individually, we need other
people - to mirror and correct us, for a start. We contextualize ourselves by comparing ourselves
to or contrasting ourselves to others; you can only consider yourself kind if there are
also examples of unkindness out there. And, more importantly, you can only consider
yourself kind when you actually express kind behavior in your interactions with other people. So many characteristics of who we are can
only shine when we’re with others. Carl Jung says that one is on their best behavior
when they are with the people they love. We want those we care about to think highly
of us, like us, to be happy around us. As a result, our actions reflect that. Moreover, other people can help us get to
know ourselves, be braver, and inspire us. Just as Jung said, people can transform one
another - and the right people will transform you into someone better. When you feel love, you feel good, inspired,
capable, and satisfied. You know that there is someone to cheer you
on and celebrate your achievements, which is motivating, and you know there is someone
to comfort you and help you grow when things go wrong, which is reassuring. But aside from being fuel in the engine, other
people also help you be more creative. Loving someone causes strong emotions, which
in turn transforms into inspiration, creativity, and ambition. Having positive relationships with other people
doesn't just bring the upside of laughing with someone, but it improves almost all aspects
of one’s life! What’s more: Jung thinks that a happy life
is barely possible without relationships. They are essential for our motivation and
growth. However, Jung argues that our happiness is
actually not inherently dependent on other people, you should not be lost or hopeless
without other people around. We don’t need to be universally liked or
praised in order to be happy. Indeed, having enemies or people who dislike
you shouldn’t get in the way of you being happy, either. Moreover, we should be able to help ourselves
when necessary. That said, we do need some people ‘on our
side,’. Human beings are social animals for a reason. Love and support from those we love creates
a sort of motivation, bravery, and creativity that’s hard, if not impossible, to cultivate
yourself. Jung also acknowledges that having negative
or difficult relationships with others is detrimental to one’s happiness. It’s important to maintain healthy relationships
and know how to leave one when that does not work out. One of the biggest traps in your relationships
with others is projecting: we often project things we do not like about ourselves onto
others. If there is envy in our own shadow, we suddenly
become experts on identifying envy in others - and severely judging them for it. As a result, we repress and deny our own tendency
to envy even more. As Jung says, by dealing with your own darkness,
you can better deal with that of others. All aspects of happiness play into each other,
so by working on your own mental health, you automatically work on bettering your relationships
with others. And, by working on your relationships with
others, you automatically get to know yourself better too. 3. Appreciate art and nature In the words of Jung “Nature seemed to me
full of wonders, and I wanted to steep myself in them. Every stone, every plant, every single thing
seemed alive and indescribably marvelous.” According to Jung, one of the most essential
skills to learn in your life is the skill of appreciation; appreciation of all beauty
to be found in life. In the most general sense, beauty is perceived
to be an aesthetic pleasure. However, to leave it at just that would do
the value it brings into our lives injustice. Jung considered our ability to appreciate
beauty to be a vital part of life. One important ability that helps with appreciating
nature and art is the ability to take things slow. So many of us rush through life in a hurry;
we’re always chasing after another deadline, trying to be productive. Your ride to work is perhaps the most mundane
and boring thing about your day; but if you were to leave a little earlier, drive a little
slower, and take the time to truly look around you, you would find so many sights and thoughts
that could bring you both joy and insight. Every aspect of life can be wonderful if we
give it consideration - only, we rarely do so. Another helpful strategy is to train ourselves
to appreciate typically beautiful sights like sunsets and paintings. When one practices appreciation enough, they’ll
find that they automatically have a much easier time starting to appreciate more mundane things,
too. And as such, our appreciation for our lives
grows. In the end, you should be able to appreciate
almost everything and anything in your life. This can help your personal growth tremendously. When we see the beauty in things, we can also
see the beauty in ourselves and those around us. Appreciation of beauty is a great way to draw
out your unconscious too; when you feel certain things at a certain sight, there is most definitely
something in your unconscious that makes you feel that way, and which is worth exploring. Jung talked about a fascinating concept called
"archetypes." These are like secret ideas that all people
have, even if we don't realize it. You can find these ideas across all areas
of human expression like stories, art and even religion. So, when something strikes you as beautiful,
it might be because it reminds you of these hidden ideas that are inside all of us. It's like that thing touches your heart and
feelings that we all have deep inside. Imagine this: when you see a rainbow or a
gorgeous sunset, it often makes you feel happy, right? Well, that's because these beautiful things
connect with the feelings we all share. Even if we don't talk about these feelings
all the time, they're there in our hearts, and beautiful things bring them out. So, when you look at something beautiful,
it's like a magical moment where you connect with those common, deep-down feelings. It's a bit like meeting an old friend you
didn't know you had. And when you connect with those feelings,
it can make you feel really happy and connected to the world around you. It's like a little happiness boost that comes
from recognizing something beautiful that we all share deep inside us. One of the most important sources of beauty,
according to Jung, is nature. Nature is all around us, effortlessly, and
is breathtakingly beautiful to anyone who looks at it long enough. Human beings are natural beings; we were born
in nature. We belong to the nature of this planet. Our fabricated reality - with cars and companies
and smartphones and deadlines - cannot make us happy. We need nature. Appreciation of nature will help us appreciate
everything else in life. Moreover, appreciation of beauty sparks creativity,
which Jung celebrates highly. Creativity is one of the driving forces of
humanity; it not only causes new inventions, but also new art, new ways to express oneself,
new theories and ways to live life. 4. Set Professional Standards To quote Jung “It all depends on how we
look at things, and not how they are in themselves.” According to Jung, the happiest people are
those who have certain standards for their work life. When you enjoy your job, which takes up the
majority of your waking hours during a regular week, you are much more inclined to enjoy
life. Of course, having a job you enjoy isn’t
possible for everyone; circumstances rather than choice can force one into a job. However, Jung has some experience with this
himself. When Jung was little, he wanted nothing more
than to be an archeologist. He was incredibly interested in discovering
and examining the past of the earth. However, when it was time for Jung to go to
university, his family couldn’t afford to send him any further than the University of
Basel, which didn’t teach Archaeology. As a result, Jung ended up studying medicine
there rather than archaeology somewhere else, and this had him ending up in the field of
psychiatry. Despite pursuing a path that didn’t initially
catch his interest, Jung managed to connect his current field with his other interests:
he adjoined his passion for history and anthropology with his current work in psychiatry and, as
a result, invented a whole new way of practicing his area of expertise: analytical psychology. Instead of bending to the standards of the
time, Jung made the field he worked in bend to his standards. As a result, he tremendously enjoyed digging
into the depths of the human mind - almost as much as he would have enjoyed digging into
the dirt. While Jung’s story might seem a bit too
aspirational for the common man, it’s important to remember that there’s a very easy-to-follow
piece of advice to be found within this story; link your current work to your passions. If you work in fast food or grocery stores,
you might want to see what interests you most. Are you a hobby baker? Perhaps you could work in a bakery! Are you really into movies? Maybe look out for a job opening at the local
cinema! Standards for work, then, concern the standards
you set for yourself in the current work you do. Look for the highlights in your work. So standards don’t necessarily have to be
big and unreachable. Maybe you can’t manage to work for a certain
company or get a specific position, but you can always try to see the light in your work. When you work at a place that inspires you
- such as surrounded by fresh bread or movie posters, you’ll will find your work more
meaningful; after all, you’re helping people enjoy the products that you yourself appreciate
so much! As a result, you’ll feel more productive
and needed than if you were selling products you don’t care for. And those who feel important in such a way,
feel more satisfied, and thus happier. Having your dream job isn’t necessarily
a requirement for taking pride in your work - but taking pride in your work is absolutely
required for general happiness! Ask yourself: how do I see my values and hobbies
reflected in my job? And how can you maximize those? How can you improve your work using those
as motivation? Enjoyment of your work will follow. 5. Seek higher guidance In our final quote from Carl Jung for this
video, he says “In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.” Everyone needs something to believe in. Without religion, spirituality, science or
philosophy, our lives can seem entirely dull and - most importantly - random and unfair. As Jung put it, life can be impossibly hard
without a certain comforting viewpoint that can help you cope. Finding a religion, spiritual viewpoint or
philosophy helps you make sense of the chaos that is the universe. There is always a pattern and deeper meaning
to find. And how can we work on personal growth and
happiness if we have no lens through which we see life in general? Explicitly allowing oneself to believe in
something bigger, whether that’s a God, idea, scientific principle, or anything else,
helps to ground oneself and contextualize your experiences. This doesn’t mean you have to become religious
or a philosopher - no. It just means that you shouldn’t view life
as meaningless. Find a goal to work towards or ideals to adhere
to. Someone who believes in nothing at all can
be defeated by every single blow life throws their way. But someone who has a ‘higher guidance,’
so to speak, always knows where to turn to. Someone who believes in karma has a greater
motivation to do good, someone who believes in hard work has a greater motivation to try
hard, and someone who believes that the world is fundamentally unfair has a greater motivation
to try and work towards fairness. Each belief motivates - and no motivation
comes from not believing in anything. So, find your inner voice; if you think of
yourself as someone who has no inclination towards religion, spirituality, or philosophy,
then think harder. Reach deep into yourself. How do you act on a daily basis? Do you follow certain moral rules? What do you expect from others? When you sit yourself down and ask yourself
questions like these, you’ll find that the answers can lead you to an overarching philosophy
that you subconsciously follow. This, too, is a form of shadow work. Finding this philosophy gives you the power
to consciously transform it into the most effective version it can be, and helps you
to both motivate yourself and look at life in a helpful way. By finding what you believe in and why, you
help yourself become the happiest version of yourself. If you enjoyed this video, please and for
more videos to help you find success and happiness using beautiful philosophical wisdom, don’t
forget to subscribe. Thanks so much for watching.
