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“As far as we can discern, the 
sole purpose of human existence

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is to kindle a light of meaning in the 
darkness of mere being.” - Carl Jung

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When we learn about influential and 
successful people such as Carl Jung,

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Sigmund Freud, or - say - Leonardo da 
Vinci, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare,

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Nelson Mandela, and so on, we often feel… 
a little inadequate. Their lives were so

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meaningful. How could ours ever compare? 
The purpose of life, according to Carl Jung,

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has nothing to do with what you achieve. It 
has to do with who you are and how you act.

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According to Jung, the entirety of an 
individual’s being can be described by

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our psyche: encompassing all our conscious 
and unconscious aspects. At the center of

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our consciousness which is everything 
we are aware of - is our ego. But there

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is so much outside of the ego that we do not 
acknowledge. In the center of our unconscious,

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meaning everything that is hidden to us, lies 
our shadow or our dark side. According to Jung,

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in our unconscious lies the key to finding our 
purpose in life. This is because the purpose

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of your life is not something objective or 
universal: it is something unique to you.

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Carl Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and 
psychoanalyst, who ended up founding his

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own school of psychology, known as ‘analytical 
psychology’. His philosophy is often referred

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to as “Jungian Philosophy”. He has also 
published multiple books. Most notably:

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The Psychology of the Unconscious, 
Man and His Symbols, The Archetypes

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and The Collective Unconscious, Modern 
Man In Search of a Soul, The Psychology

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of the Transference, Memories, Dreams, and 
Thoughts, and The Relations Between the Ego

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and the Unconscious. In this video we will talk 
about the steps you need to take so that your

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dark side can reveal your life's purpose, 
according to the philosophy of Carl Jung.

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Get To Know Your darkness

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Jung says “Your visions will become clear only 
when you can look into your own heart. Who

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looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”
Everyone has a unique meaning and purpose in life,

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depending on who you are and what you want. As 
a result, you need to know who you are before

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you can begin to figure out the purpose of your 
life. Many people believe they know themselves

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well. You might think you’re familiar with your 
traits, strengths, weaknesses, and desires,

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so you might be tempted to dive straight 
into finding your life’s purpose. However,

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In order to truly know yourself, you have 
to do what Jung called self-realization.

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Each person is made up of both conscious and 
unconscious parts - the aspects of ourselves

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we are aware of, and those we are not. 
The shadow, or dark side, is the hidden

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part of our unconscious that holds repressed 
desires, emotions, and traits. For instance,

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your shadow might contain feelings of laziness, 
envy, or anger, as well as hobbies or interests

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that you’re ashamed of or wish you had outgrown. 
Because the shadow resides in the unconscious,

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you’re often unaware of what’s in it; these 
traits have been repressed and ignored for

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so long that they no longer surface in your 
thoughts. Instead, you tend to over-identify

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with your persona - the role you unconsciously 
play to be liked or appreciated by others.

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This persona acts like a mask you wear when 
interacting with the world, and you may have

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multiple masks for different situations.
Reintroducing yourself to your shadow

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requires genuine effort. Engaging in shadow 
work, or getting to know your dark side,

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as Jung called it, involves regularly stepping 
back and reflecting on your behavior, thoughts,

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and feelings in daily life. This could be done 
through journaling or meditation. Ask yourself:

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Why did I act the way I did? Did it feel 
authentic? Why or why not? What was my initial

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instinct in a given situation? How would I feel if 
the roles were reversed? It’s about interrogating

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yourself as if you were questioning someone else.
Jung emphasized that getting to know your shadow

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doesn’t mean identifying with it. You 
don’t have to define yourself by the

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traits you usually hide. For example, if 
your shadow houses anger, you don’t need to

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see yourself as an angry person. Instead, simply 
acknowledge these traits' existence - recognize

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and accept that they are a part of you.
Another way your hidden shadow traits

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often surface is through judgment of 
others. The traits or behaviors you

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despise in others are often the ones you fear 
in yourself. This is called projection. So,

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whenever you find yourself angry at or irritated 
by someone else’s behavior, take a moment to ask:

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Do I ever exhibit this tendency? If not, why not? 
Could this be a shadow trait of mine? According to

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Jung, those who harshly judge selfishness 
often repress their own selfish thoughts,

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and those intolerant of impatience in others 
may be battling their own impatient tendencies.

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By taking time each day to sit down, perhaps 
journal, and ask yourself these probing questions,

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you begin to bring the unconscious into 
consciousness, truly getting to know yourself.

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It’s important to continue doing shadow work 
regularly; as you change, there’s always more to

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discover. Making a habit of shadow work is key to 
continuously getting closer to a meaningful life.

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Work on Yourself

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In the words of Jung “I don't aspire to be 
a good man. I aspire to be a whole man.”

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Now that you’ve found out about your unconscious 
- and perhaps less desirable dark traits,

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you might be wondering: How can this help me 
save my life? In fact, you might feel worse about

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yourself after your self-realization, because you 
can no longer ignore all your ‘bad’ sides. Jung

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acknowledged that figuring out who you truly are 
is an intensely painful and frightening process.

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Many people think that by repressing bad parts 
of themself, by never showing them is a good way

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to get rid of them fully; I mean aren’t those 
who can hold in their anger the most gentle

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people? And those who push through their laziness 
aren’t they most productive people? Well - yes,

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and no. While it is good to want to be better, 
ignoring traits will not make them go away.

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Repressing shadow traits often gives those 
traits more power. They fester deep inside you

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and then - when you’re tired, stressed, emotional, 
or at a breaking point, they suddenly burst out of

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you. People that don’t acknowledge their anger are 
the ones who have scary angry outbursts every now

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and then. People that ignore their laziness end up 
experiencing burnouts. Ignoring something does not

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make it go away. So, now that you actually know 
your shadow, you can finally do something with it.

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Whatever you find in your shadow, your 
dark traits, make them useful. Anger,

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for example, is only bad if it is excessive or 
unwarranted. But when someone genuinely hurts you,

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anger can actually help you advocate for yourself. 
The question you should ask yourself is: when

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is it right to act on an emotion, and when is it 
better not to? When should I lean into my mask and

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persona, and when do I not have to? By thinking 
about your emotions in this nuanced sense, rather

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than thinking of them as ‘bad’ or ‘good’, you will 
improve your life and well-being tremendously.

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Envy can be a motivator. Laziness can get you 
well-needed rest. Impatience can make you more

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active… If the context is right! In other words, 
you have to find ways to integrate everything you

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find in your shadow into your personality 
instead of ignoring it. Your shadow is not

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here to punish you but rather to teach you, 
and your repressed traits are here to stay.

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So only if you accept and embrace your 
dark qualities can you actually improve

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yourself. The self-knowledge and ability 
to use all sides of yourself is what you

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need to find out your life’s purpose. 
Once your shadow is self integrated,

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you become more yourself. You will be 
balanced, harmonious and authentic.

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Once you’ve figured out how to use your shadow, 
you have figured out who you truly are - and

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thus it will become much easier to figure 
out what you truly want and need from life.

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Self-improvement is another form of shadow 
work that never ends; there is always more

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to improve. When you continuously keep improving 
yourself, you are adding meaning to your life.

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Take Action
According to Jung “You are what you do,

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not what you say you’ll do.”

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When you know who you are, how you can best handle 
your dark traits, and what you believe in - you

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have to show it. The purpose of life cannot 
be found in thoughts, but in practice. Jung

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thought that self-realization had to be shown in 
what you do rather than what you say. After all,

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you can only say you are a certain way, and 
want certain things, if you act like it.

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This means that you should not live your life 
reactively; do not only react to what happens

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to you, but also initiate something in your life. 
Instead of waiting for people to befriend you,

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go out of your way to make friends. 
Instead of waiting for that promotion,

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come up with a plan and pursue it. And 
instead of waiting for your life to

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achieve the meaning you want it to, make 
your life meaningful with your actions.

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Currently, most of us do live reactively - 
even those who actively seek out their shadow

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and improve themselves. Working on yourself 
is a great first action one can take, true;

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but it is not enough to truly start 
taking action in other areas of life,

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either. In fact, after doing shadow work 
one might think they can now sit back and

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relax. But sitting back in your life is 
what gets you stuck in meaninglessness.

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OK, but how do you start living actively? 
Simple: by challenging yourself. When you’ve

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taken the steps to continuously explore your 
shadow and improve yourself based on what you

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find, you should also keep taking some extra 
steps. Frequently ask yourself questions like:

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What do I believe in? What spiritual or religious 
beliefs, what moral principles, what values? How

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do I act on a daily basis? What do I want to do 
this year? And the next five years? How do I want

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to contribute to the world? What do I expect from 
others? You could journal about these questions,

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or meditate on them. The answers are clear 
clues as to what kind of actions to take.

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You might, for example, want to become a 
published author. A lot of people do. But

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a lot of the people that do want to become a 
published author also do not take many steps to

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achieve that goal. They wait for inspiration 
to strike, for their agenda to clear up,

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and eventually for the book to write itself. 
They still live reactively; when the time is

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just right, the book will just flow out of 
them… Or so they think! So what would someone

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who wants to become an author have to change? An 
aspiring author that actually takes action would

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write on a frequent, scheduled basis; whether 
they feel like it or not. When they get stuck

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they would actively seek out advice 
or exercises to help them move along.

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They would finish a story, if not thanks to 
motivation, then due to discipline. And then,

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they would proactively reach out to people in 
the publishing industry, such as literary agents.

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Of course, many people do not derive meaning 
from career goals. Instead, their personal

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ideas about their lives might be a little more 
abstract: you might want to positively influence

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new generations, for instance. This could 
be done in many ways; by becoming a parent,

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a teacher, starting a charity for youth, 
becoming a youth counselor, a politician,

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and more. It is then on you to decide in what 
way you want to achieve this goal, and what

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actions that requires. Whenever you ask yourself 
questions about your morals and beliefs, you will

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then have to decide what way you can work towards 
them, and what actions you might need to take.

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It is quite possible to survive 
when living reactively - but it

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is not possible to find meaning in a 
reactive life. Meaning requires action.

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Embrace Fear

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Jung once said “Where your 
fear is, there is your task.”

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One of the main reasons people live reactively 
is not mere laziness and often not even a lack

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of motivation. Most of the time, the avoidance of 
action results from fear. Action requires risk,

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which can be scary. When you have an idea for 
a book, you have to risk being disappointed by

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your own writing in order to get it down 
on paper. Once you’ve written a book,

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you have to be ready for many rejections if 
you want to get it published. Every single

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action you can take can result in something 
negative. You need to be brave to be active.

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Bravery does not stem from a lack of fear. Fear 
is not to be avoided; if you do, it would go back

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into your shadow and rule your life even more. 
Instead, it should be acknowledged. When you

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have to take a certain action but feel unable 
to do so, ask yourself why. Are you scared?

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What are you scared of? What are the things that 
could go wrong? And how could you deal with them?

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Fear is often contained by preparation. But do not 
confuse preparation with rumination or anxiety:

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focus only on likely scenarios, not outlandish 
ones. When you want to publish a book,

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be prepared to be rejected by many agents, or 
even to find no one interested in representing it,

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but also be prepared to find an agent or 
to have it published. Do not, however,

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ruminate about how agents and publishers 
might reject you, or about someone stealing

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your book idea, or about being laughed at. 
Those thoughts are unlikely and unhelpful.

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By analyzing your fear and handling 
it in the form of preparation,

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you’ve already dealt with a great deal of it. The 
feeling will most likely never fully disappear,

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so when you’ve done what you can to minimize 
your fear, there is only one thing left to do:

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dive into the deep. Bravery requires you 
to face your fears rather than get rid of

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your fears. Nobody who has ever done anything 
special has done so by avoiding what they’re

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scared of. As Jung said, where your fear is, 
that is where your next task is. Once you know

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what you’re scared of, you also know what is 
likely to give your life the most meaning.

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Accept The Bad

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In our final quote from Jung for this video, 
he says “Even a happy life cannot be without a

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measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose 
its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.”

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Let’s see: you know yourself, you’re always 
improving yourself, you’re taking actions and

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taking risks. Is this the recipe to a perfect 
life? No. Nobody’s life is perfect. In fact,

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the most influential people in the world have 
often experienced the most hardships. And this

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is because the most influential people are 
typically the ones that take the most risks,

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do not let bad situations get them 
down, and push through no matter what.

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So, accepting the bad and disappointing things in 
life is integral to finding meaning and purpose.

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In fact, meaning is dependent on it. A life 
that consists solely of triumph and joy is

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not a meaningful life, because joy is only as 
impactful as it is if you also know sadness.

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You cannot win unless defeat was also an option. 
There can be no light without dark. This means

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that whenever something bad happens to you, 
you have to recontextualize it: do not despair,

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but rather think: whatever good happens from 
now on, will feel even better now. Aside from

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contextualizing the good in life, misfortune 
and mistakes are only opportunities to grow.

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Every time something happens, your reaction 
to it tells you something new about yourself.

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Bad things, then, are integral to your 
self-discovery - and it's helpful, too,

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when it comes to getting to know your shadow. 
Nobody finds out they should try to be a little

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more pragmatic unless they’ve failed to be 
at some point. And - nobody finds out they’re

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resilient and strong unless something 
in their lives has required them to be.

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Let’s say your novel gets rejected by all 
the publishing houses you’ve sent it to.

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Or you gave up your stable job to go back to 
school but you’ve failed. Sure, you now have

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more context to enjoy good things later on in 
life. You’ve learned something. But does this

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give your life more meaning? The meaning of life, 
according to Jung, does not lie in achieving those

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goals you set yourself; it is in the taking 
of action and self-discovery. With this,

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he means that your life does not become meaningful 
because you’re a published author or a successful

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politician. It derives its meaning from what you 
did to get there. And thus, even those who end up

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not getting there, now know they are the kind 
of person that takes action. They’re uniquely

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and unapologetically themselves - and that, 
in and of itself, is the most meaningful part.

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Adding meaning to your life never ends 
- you have to keep discovering yourself,

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your goals, and taking action. 
You will continue to experience

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good and bad things. And this is 
what makes your life so special:

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your unique combination of disappointment 
and joy, your unique actions and attempts,

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and your determination. Always be proud of what 
you tried - that is where the purpose comes from.

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And finally, appreciate all the good in your 
life. Whatever you have achieved, no matter how

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little it is, be proud of it. Whatever works 
out for you in life, be grateful for it. And

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no matter what happens, know that your life has a 
purpose as long as you’re the best you you can be.

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If you enjoyed this video, please make 
sure to check out our full philosophies

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for life playlist and for more videos to 
help you find success and happiness using

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