By Scott Hepner

I have been a student of Carl Jung’s work for many years. One of his famous quotes is:

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” – Carl Jung

You might be asking yourself, well how do I make the unconscious, conscious? It’s unconscious!!

There are actually several ways. For example, talk therapy, trying new experiences or cultivating mindfulness to become more aware of thought and behavioral patterns.

One big technique that Jung advocated was dream interpretation. But that is a whole other, long topic. Instead of going down that road, consider the following:

I once attended a Charlotte Friends of Jung meeting where a Jungian Analyst used the Johari Window to demonstrate how we can increase our own self awareness.

Think of your own self awareness in the context of the above diagram.

Each quadrant represent parts of you. These parts of you are either known or unknown to you and/or others.

These parts of you shift between quadrants through disclosure and feedback.

Let’s say you have a fear of public speaking, but you have never told anyone about it.

By disclosing your fear to others, that aspect of you would move from the bottom left quadrant to the top left.

Surprisingly, this seemingly small act can be quiet cathartic in dealing with your fear. I have personally witnessed many people make big gains in overcoming their fear by starting with this disclosure.

Now contemplate things that may be in the top right quadrant in terms of public speaking – things that are known to others, but not to you.

For example, maybe you always jingle the keys in your pocket when you give a speech, only you didn’t know it until someone told you.

This aspect of you moves from the top right quadrant to the top left quadrant through feedback.

The bottom right quadrant, things that are unknown to others and unknown to you, is a little trickier.

If you practiced one of the above mentioned techniques (mindfulness, dream interpretation, etc), then you can bring those unknown aspects of you into your awareness.

The unknown area is the cause of much stress in life, but it is also where your potential lies. When you bring unknown things about yourself to light, you can overcome them. Or, in the case of your potential, become it!

Maybe there is a great public speaker in you trying to get out!