Moments of Breakdown . . .

We experience times of breakdown and transformation. We need both. We can't stay the same and change. Breakdown takes down what needs to be taken down so that, potentially, what is really there and new and more meaningful can flourish.

Transformation, as psychologist Michael Eigen notes, gets its power from " . . . the moments of breakdown that went into them." Dreams say everything is falling apart. We panic. But, hold on, if we step back and gain insight into what's happening in our life, there can be a shift into self empowerment and transformation.

Not infrequently patients enter depth therapy and relate dreams of the world coming to an end. "Everything is crashing down. The world is ending!" they exclaim. We talk and see that they indeed are undergoing a crisis, the old way of life no longer working. Things are crashing down, but they needed to crash and come to an end. Over time they experience that breakdown led to crisis led to seeking healing led to possibilities and potential.

We we understand the dream world, we'll see what we need to see about our crisis, the breakdown we're going through. We take heart, don't give up, and understand that moments of breakdown are psychologically necessary. Breakdown happens so that we can stop, pay attention, and take care of the self, the soul, that has the potential to reconstitute in a new and better way.