Meaning-Making Reinterpretation
"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are." - Carl G. Jung.
When we contemplate making a change, our reluctance or ambivalence about it can be the result of beliefs about ourselves and the meaning we ascribe to past actions, as well as our sense of agency in relation to change. Transformation is not about eliminating struggle, but about reinterpreting meaning, facing inner conflicts, and integrating unconscious material into conscious awareness. It encourages us not just to accept difficult feelings but to reinterpret them as vital steps in the lifelong art of "becoming."
Meaning, Emotion, and the Body
How we make meaning out of our life experiences is what determines the outcome. A pattern of events can occur and activate our behavioral response, but the meaning we ascribe to them is what impacts our system. We can experience physiological responses that cause excitation and anxious states, activating the sympathetic nervous system response (freeze, flight, or fight), which leads to increased heart rate, rapid breathing, muscle tension, and the release of hormones such as adrenaline (epinephrine) and cortisol. Rather than attempting to "get your butterflies out" or being told not to be anxious, we can embrace the physiological experience. Lisa Feldman Barrett has suggested a meaning reframing, such as to "get your butterflies in formation," as a brilliant way to navigate anxious feelings into an active state of excitement and expression. In her theory of constructed emotion, the brain predicts and interprets bodily sensations based on past experiences, context, and conceptual knowledge.
It is helpful to understand behavioral responses as the result of the brain's construction of emotion based on context, past experiences, bodily sensations, and conceptual knowledge, rather than as reflexive reactions to stimuli. According to Barrett (2018), the meaning we ascribe to a behavioral response—such as feeling "anxious," "excited," or "angry"—is an active interpretation, not a universal or automatic process. This suggests that we can change the meaning through a conscious reinterpretation and behavioral response. Our process becomes the conscious construction of meaning-making reinterpretation in the brain, which integrates sensation, context, and experience.
Struggle as Transformation
Jung believed, "You are not broken, you are becoming," which speaks to the transformation and growth that can be experienced through facing our inner struggles. While insight is necessary, it is not sufficient for transformation. Therefore, difficult experiences—such as inner conflict, confusion, and emotional pain—are not signs of personal failure, but rather essential parts of the journey toward wholeness and self-realization. These moments mark the beginning of awakening, when the old layers of the self begin to shed, making space for a more authentic identity to emerge.
The path to becoming who you truly are involves bringing unconscious aspects into consciousness. As Jung put it, "I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become." It is in those moments that we can explore our fears, doubts, and pain, helping us move out of autopilot, away from definitions imposed by others or past wounds, and toward genuine self-understanding and compassion.
Becoming: A Question for the Journey
What old stories or beliefs about yourself are no longer serving you? As you navigate difficulty, remember that the struggle is not the end—it is transformation underway. Each challenge is an invitation to become all of who you are – Keep Becoming.
References:
Barrett, L.F. (2018). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Mariner Books.
Jung, C.G. (1968). The collected works of C.G. Jung, volume 7: Two essays on analytical psychology (R.F.C. Hull, Trans.). Princeton University Press.