I’ve been feeling rather flummoxed these days. At times I’ve been excited, relieved, anxious, nervous, elated, and aggravated. I’m a full person and have been experiencing the full range of emotions my psyche has to offer. These emotions have been reactive to the current political situation and my personal life. But I’m learning that no matter how I feel about the things I encounter, it doesn’t change the big picture.

If you have been feeling like the world around you is existing on a pile of eggshells or that you are easily experiencing big emotions, you might want to try my latest remedy. Read an old book. You too may discover – as I did – how inconsequential the consequential may seem.

It is one of those swings of the pendulum which, as history has too often shown, set matters right again. – C. G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

No matter what you are feeling right now, rest assured, history will set matters right again. If you are feeling overly aggravated or overly relieved, I hope you are aware that the pendulum is swinging. You should be ready for it when it reaches the other side.

A man can hope for satisfaction and fulfillment only in what he does not yet possess; he cannot find pleasure in something of which he has already had too much. – C. G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

Hand in hand with the first quote, both of which were published 87 years ago by a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, we can learn much about our current situation. We strive for things we do not yet possess. But when we have too much of those things, we are destined to lose our interest. That brings me back to the pendulum.

I’d like to settle into the emotions I’m feeling on a personal level – relieved, excited, loved, and a little bit stretched thin. The emotions I’m experiencing as a reaction to the current political situation should be put on the back burner because no matter what happens, the pendulum will keep swinging. History will set matters right. And once we’ve had our fill of the current pleasures we seek, we’ll find new ones to strive for.