“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.”
Source: Women Who Run With the Wolves · Check the source
Verified attributionWhat we know
- What is documented
- The phrasing is consistently attributed to Clarissa Pinkola Estés and is cited in connection with Women Who Run With the Wolves in reputable quote collections.
- What remains uncertain
- Attribution is well established across sources, though the strongest confirmation would be a direct page citation from the book; the examined indexes reproduce the passage without a primary-page image.
Understanding the quote
Estés frames certain pains and longings as threshold experiences that grant access to the deeper, instinctive Self. The passage, associated with Women Who Run With the Wolves, suggests that scars, old stories, and intense longing can become openings to a more embodied, sane life.
The story behind it
Estés trained as a Jungian analyst and draws heavily on family oral traditions and immigrant storytelling, which gives her prose a proverb-like, mythic feel.
Going further
- The thinking
- A Jungian, mythic approach: personal wounds and longings are read as symbols and doorways to reclaim instinct, not merely as problems to fix.
- Key word
- Wild Self: the instinctive, whole part of a person that connects feeling, body, and nature.
- Who quoted it
- This passage is widely shared on quotation sites and social media, usually linked back to Women Who Run With the Wolves.
Three challenges to live it
In the app, you pick the one that fits your day, and in the evening you say how it went.
Write for 20 minutes about a scar, an old story, or a deep longing; begin with “When this happened to me…” and keep the pen moving without self-editing.
Estés frames scars and longings as doors; sustained free writing helps you open one of those doors and discover what waits beyond it.
Paint, collage, or draw for 30 minutes a “door” that represents your scar, story, or longing; use colors and symbols rather than realism.
Making a visual door from a wound or longing materializes Estés’ metaphor, offering a sensory route to instinct and creative insight.
Walk 25 minutes near water or under open sky, letting your attention follow the sky and water; when an image or memory returns, note it mentally.
Estés names love of sky and water as a door; contemplative movement by these elements engages body and instinct, often releasing images or stories from the interior.
How might a scar or old story be a doorway to a fuller life for you?
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