Each time we meet and embrace a hidden part of ourselves— something that was rejected in childhood as unacceptable or bad—we create more inner unity. We become more alive by awakening from our numbness and self-rejection.

To authentically live from this place is not easy. It requires much of us in areas we’ve learned to ignore. This work of excavation requires seven steps.

Every fault acknowledged, every defense dismantled, and every pain felt and released, gives us powerful new reserves of thought and feeling for creating our lives in positive new directions. And, on the other hand, every negative attitude unconsciously perpetrated, every defense held on to, and every pain denied, ties up our life energies and limit

The center of our conscious life is called ego. It has two concurrent characteristics: It is functional in that it is the strong grounded activating principle by which we make intellectual assessments and judgments, show feelings appropriately, and relate skillfully to other people. It can also be neurotic when it becomes attached, addicted, dualis