According to Carl Jung, to be happy you need to be able, first of all, to look within. Only once we are awake, only when we are aware of our unconscious and when we have left the shadows behind us, will we feel free to do what makes us happy.
Written and verified by the psychologist GetPersonalGrowth.
Last update: 15 November 2021
The secrets of happiness, as defined by Carl Jung, are still very relevant today. The famous Swiss psychiatrist and founder of analytical psychology was more than a simple figure of great and vast culture who handed down concepts such as the collective unconscious or archetypes. Jung was a true expert in that complex alchemy of emotions, images and needs that dot the unconscious of the human being.
“We are the origin of absolute evil,” he stated in an interview, just as the world was suffocated by the curtain of the Cold War. And he specified that "people are made up of fears and only psychology and the understanding of what we are can save us". Jung knew that our species is capable of the worst deeds, but also the best. According to him, that self-realization in the name of hope and well-being is reached only through individuation.
This interesting concept is also associated with Carl Jung's concept of happiness. It is the process by which we manage to transform ourselves into psychologically free individuals, in which each of our parts is connected to the others. Without fears, without anguish, that they form a totality in which nothing remains in the shadows, where the unconscious becomes conscious and where we have our goals very clear.
The aforementioned idea was, without a doubt, the cornerstone of the father of spiritual psychology, but he was also able to offer us a small list of those dimensions that could lead us to happiness. He did so in a series of interviews, later collected in the book CG Jung Speaking (1987). Let's see in detail what these points consist of.
The privilege of this life is to be able to become who we really are.
-Carl Gustav Jung-
The secrets of happiness according to Carl Jung
There are plenty of classic lists on how to achieve happiness. We are also very clear that many of them fall into that now dated positivism with which one remains trapped in theory, without being realistic or seeking concrete help. Now, Carl Jung's secrets to being happy may seem elementary to us, yet they have a remarkable distinctive character.
The founder of analytical psychology specified a detail: by blindly obsessing ourselves with the research of these dimensions, we will get the opposite, that is, we will be unhappy. Rather, we should be clear about our goals, but also be able to let ourselves be carried away, to be receptive, intuitive and - as Jung himself would say - to notice those synchronicities that sometimes give us things as unexpected as they are extraordinary.
Let's see what are the secrets of happiness according to Carl Jung.
1. Good physical and mental health
One does not exist without the other; good health must be both physical and mental. Carl Jung himself stated that psychology is, in reality, the only science capable of saving the human being and mediating for the well-being of the latter.
He also argued that psychology is not just about addressing the psychological disorders that promote malaise and suffering. Realizing ourselves as individuals, focusing on our goals and knowing who we are is a secret to being happy as much as physical well-being is.
2. Establish healthy social relationships
The quality of our social relationships is, without a doubt, that pillar that appears in any handbook on happiness. We cannot live far from our fellow men; we need affection, friendship, security, love, to communicate, share, discover new perspectives, learn from each other, take care of someone and rely on someone else's care, create solid and rewarding bonds.
3. Perceive the beauty of art and nature
Art is that cultural product conceived by the human being that goes far beyond the pure aesthetic sense. The essence of the human being is also contained in each work, in each production. It is there that his emotions, his creativity, his ideals, his psychological and innovative potential, his mastery in giving shape to creations that initially populated our mind and in that unconscious scenario that Jung spoke about reside.
Knowing how to appreciate all this also elevates us, gratifies us and makes us happy. As well as being able to admire nature, where our roots are, where every being and every corner of our planet can give excellent lessons of wisdom.
4. Believe in something, be it a faith or a philosophy
Among the secrets of happiness elaborated by Jung, spirituality could not be missing. Whether anchored in a religious doctrine or a philosophical current, believing in something offers, according to the father of analytical psychology, a basis for well-being.
It means allowing ourselves to give a context and an origin to every experience; it is to feel that there is something beyond what is purely tangible, something that offers roots, as well as feelings and purpose.
5. Having a fulfilling job among the secrets of happiness
Carl Jung spoke in more than one interview that his dream and desire as a child was to be an archaeologist. Over the years, circumstances led him to study medicine, and then specialize in psychiatry. Somehow, however, he managed to address his passion for history, for anthropology and that eagerness to "dig" into the depths of the human being through analytical psychology.
Having a fulfilling job is not easy, but following the desired professional path by making the right choices and having our goals clear will allow us to find a job that will make us feel fulfilled. Happiness is also giving others the best of ourselves through a job well done, which we are passionate about and at which we are good.
Conclusions: the secrets of happiness
Socrates said that to find happiness one must go deep within ourselves. In a way, this idea bears a great deal of resemblance to what Jung argued; we must become aware of that inner voice that is inside each of us. Once this is done, we will feel free and ready to give shape to the life we ​​want.
Let's start this wonderful and critically important work today.
