If you've ever read anything about positive psychology, you've likely come across names like Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who hailed in the discipline in 2000. But the roots of positive psychology can be traced a lot further back, all the way to Carl Jung.. Yes, the same Carl Jung often associated with the shadow, archetypes, and the unconscious.
While history has overlooked his contributions, Jung was perhaps the first true pioneer of what we now call positive psychology. Lets look at his contributions to a now flourishing field.
Jung was deeply passionate about understanding how individuals can grow, develop, and ultimately thrive. At a time when Freud’s psychoanalysis dominated psychology with its strong focus on psychopathology, Jung believed that every individual has the potential for growth and fulfillment.
In his work, Jung (1908) challenged the negative views of the human psyche and instead proposed that individuals possess an innate ability to move toward wholeness and well-being. He didn’t just ask, “What’s wrong with you?” He also asked, “What’s right with you?”
One of Jung’s most significant contributions to positive psychology is the concept of individuation. This is the process of integrating all the parts of our personality to become whole or our "true selves." Unlike concepts such as self-actualization, which focuses on reaching a final, optimal state of functioning, Jung believed that individuation was a lifelong journey of personal growth and development. He saw it as integrating all aspects of one’s personality, the good and the bad, into a unified, authentic self.
Individuation is not about becoming perfect. It's really about........