Where Did That Come From?

Complexes are puzzling and complex. According to depth psychologists, such as Jung, Hollis, Hillman, etc., complexes are bundles of energy left over and unprocessed from previous events, etc. We are usually dealing with a complex when our reaction to an event is “over-the-top,” such as too much energy in my reaction and response. When this happens, we usually ask ourselves, “Where did that come from?” It probably came from an emotional complex in our personal unconscious. Our personal unconscious may be imagined as the ‘basement’ of our life, whereas the ‘living room’ is imagined as where we live (these images are the work of the book, PART’S WORK, which I recommend). A complex is some energy that we seek to keep out of our daily living, for example, living room, but is still a part of us. When we ask ourselves, “Where did that come from?”, we need to take some time and honestly search out some answers to our question. In this honest search through our past experiences, we locate those events, etc. where the complex energy is located. When it is located and recognized, it loses much of its power over us and that’s a move toward emotional health for ourselves. This is similar to doing some emotional ‘basement cleaning.’