ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the often-understated influence of seeking as a human endeavor. It integrates three analytic concepts—seeking, resilience, and narratives that reflect implicit and explicit awareness (sensing) of pride in self strengths and disappointment in gaps and limitations. Seeking as an activity implicit in the search for the fulfillment of connection, intimacy, and security gained a specific psychoanalytic meaning with the introduction of attachment theory. Resilience enters the story when development is impeded by the absence of opportunity to take a reparative adaptive turn in the face of stress and/or acute trauma. Implicit narratives based on attachment research illustrate seeking a secure base at times of danger and loss. Patients with a meta-story of disorganized attachment seek opportunities for relationships, therapy, and many other advances in potential but all too often end up in a chaotic situation. The narrative of mind wanderings, micro-evaluations, and pathways being pointed to emphasizes tiny moments in time in daily life.