Tonight's topic is going to be a great psychologist by the name of D.W. Winnicott, Donald Woods Winnicott,

and he for me is one of the most interesting psychologists of the 20th century and a kind of a revolutionary

figure and surprisingly given what he taught he was British.

Go figure. what he was taught he was British go figure so I'm just going to launch in and I'm going

to then at the end explain how Donald Woods Winnicott's views overlap with early Buddhist teaching.

Donald Wood's Winnicott came up with some of the most important concepts that are still in use today.

In psychology, theory, the therapeutic alliance.

One of his first ideas was that a mother doesn't have to be perfect or a caretaker.

She just has to be good enough.

And he came up with a phrase,

the good enough mother, the good enough mother makes the baby, or the good enough father, makes the baby feel all powerful.

The baby feels cold and suddenly a blanket appears. The baby feels

thirsty and suddenly a breast appears. The baby feels frightened and a warm reassuring embrace appears.

And so the baby with a good enough mother feels omnipotent, all powerful, because whenever it experienced something

soon enough the mother would bring a solution the mother would bring a

resolution to the baby's emotions. So the baby felt understood and the baby

felt safe. And interestingly enough as we go through our lives many of us seek places where we can

swing like in hammocks or ride I love riding my bike like riding in rowboats, we like feeling hugged. All of these are in

essence a felt return to that what he called holding space, whereas infants we felt we were in a realm at the

beginning of life where we were safe and secure and our needs were met.

A holding environment with a tolerant caretaker is essential Winnicott said to developing a self.

An authentic self happens when we are free to express fluid impulses, fluid needs,

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