Approaching life from a Jungian perspective includes each person trying to discern what is the life path for which he or she was created. It can be difficult to feel sure about what is a correct choice. For example, there are many causes that a person may support and be active in that are considered positive and helpful by most people. But no matter how positive and helpful a cause might be, it is the correct choice for an individual only if it is part of that person’s life path. It is easy for one’s ego to choose something that appears to be a good thing to do, but it might not actually be what that person was created to do.
Jungian author and psychotherapist Dr. Terry Chitwood writes about these ideas in his book Meeting Force with Silence. He writes “How can you distinguish between false hope and your real work? Actions carried out based on false hope will receive a series of obstacles that will discourage you from continuing in your direction. Sometimes it can be difficult to distinguish between obstacles and tests, but it can be done. Tests usually lead to understanding and growth whereas obstacles lead to frustration. The frustration’s purpose is to get you back on the right track.”
I find what Dr. Chitwood writes about frustration helping to get a person back on track to be hopeful. Knowing we have more than one chance to get back to our path is encouraging. Part of being human is to make mistakes. If we are too fearful of making mistakes, we become stuck and personal growth isn’t possible. Paying attention to our dreams, synchronicities, and intuition will help us to discern our next steps, and paying attention to our feelings, including frustration, will also help to steer us in the right direction.