Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent.
[From Quote Details: Carl Jung: Nothing has a stronger… – The Quotations Page]
So this tells me that the things I want to do that I’m not doing are going to make more of an impression on my kids than the things I am doing. That’s very troubling to ponder, as there is a lot of undone work/unlived life to learn from.
The thing of it is, I’m more likely to do it for them than for myself, whatever it is. And I think I subconsciously know that Getting On With It is what they need to see. I know that seeing mistakes being made is a great way to learn that mistakes are OK, as long as you learn from them (and no, the lesson is not “never try anything”). What I consider a mistake isn’t always something they see as one, so that’s either their more open minds or low standards.
While I was looking at that Jung quote above, I found this one.
The healthy man does not torture others – generally it is the tortured who turn into torturers.
Carl Jung
Swiss psychologist (1875 – 1961)[From Quote Details: Carl Jung: The healthy man does… – The Quotations Page]
Wow. That’s just one more thing we know without really expressing it, but when you see it as plainly laid out as that and look at reality through that prism, it makes you wonder just how many powerful people are imprisoned in their minds by pain they have never been able to shake off or rise above.