The process is that which is constantly changing. It is like a river that flows ceaselessly. It is the current of life. The flow. The Tao. In this constant movement, there is room for everything, for every experience that is part of life. In our daily lives, we tend to focus on what is more familiar to us or on what preoccupies us the most, often failing to notice what is trying to unfold in our lives. Most of us strive to carry out our plans and like it when things go the way we want them to. However, no matter how hard we try, things don’t always go our way. When that happens, we usually struggle and try to achieve our goals at all costs. This is a great approach, if it works. Sometimes, though, the harder we try to do something, the less successful we are, or the more resistance we encounter.
In working with the process, we also look at what stands in our way, unwanted events and “problems”, because we assume they may be significant to us and contain valuable clues for further shaping our lives. If we treat these events as carriers of information, we can discover the solutions lying dormant within them. In this way, we have the opportunity to make the changes we need and better understand our own lives.
What we identify with and what is familiar to us in our everyday experience is called the primary process, that is, our identity. What is less familiar, and sometimes repressed or rejected, we call the secondary process. It is a kind of energy that disrupts our identity. On a daily basis, both processes are constantly present within us and influence how we react to other people and events in the world. What we do not identify with is also what we most often notice in others, what fascinates or irritates us. Often, it is through our relationships that we can better perceive our secondary processes. They may also manifest in world events that affect us the most. They will appear in physical symptoms and in our dreams.
A secondary process wants to show us something and teach us something, provided we allow it to do so. We can follow it or ignore it. By following it, we can make our lives fuller and more meaningful. Often, various beliefs, norms, prohibitions, and convictions stand in the way of accepting the secondary aspects of our experience. These stem both from our personal experiences and from the systems within which we live (family, society, religion, culture). The goal of working with the process is to recognize all aspects of life’s experience and integrate them with one another.
Processwork is, therefore, the discovery of the full nature of things and of ourselves. What is this nature? It is something different for each of us. However, by discovering it, we can find a deeper meaning in what is happening in our lives, become more self-aware, and fully utilize our own potential in resolving the difficulties we encounter along the way.
Processwork (process psychology) emerged from the integration of various perspectives on reality. It is a unique blend of Western, “white” psychology and psychotherapy and science with indigenous, primal, “colored” concepts about life.
Process psychology is based on the psychology of C.G. Jung, while expanding upon it to include work with physical symptoms and movement, drawing heavily on insights from Eastern medicine and shamanic traditions. This is complemented by the incorporation of Aboriginal beliefs regarding the so-called Dreamtime, the essence of existence that creates everything around us. Also essential to working with the process is the Taoist-based premise that everything that happens to us is significant and necessary.
The founder of Process Psychology is Arnold Mindell (1940–2024), a physicist by training (MIT), a doctor of psychology (Union Institute), and a Jungian analyst (C.G. Jung Institute).