shadow work
shadow work is not all pain and suffering.
it is wisdom learned through contrast.
Become the compassionate investigator of your inner world. Rather than judging what we discover, we become curious about it.
The goal of shadow work is not to eliminate the shadow or become a person who never gets triggered, angry, jealous, afraid, insecure, or uncomfortable.
The goal is INTEGRATION and AWARENESS.
Sometimes we discover pain. Sometimes we discover an old survival strategy that no longer serves us.
AND……….Sometimes we discover something beautiful that we had forgotten was ours.
OUR VOICE.
OUR BOUNDARIES.
OUR CREATIVITY.
OUR TENDERNESS.
OUR POWER.
LISTEN NOW
“Shadow Work” can sound dark and intimidating, when it is actually bringing unconscious parts of ourselves into awareness and relationship.
WHAT IS SHADOW WORK?
Shadow work is the practice of gently exploring the parts of ourselves that live outside our everyday awareness.
The term “shadow” was popularized by Carl Jung to describe aspects of ourselves that have been pushed into the subconscious. These may be emotions, needs, impulses, memories, beliefs, qualities, or behaviors that at some point we learned were unacceptable, unsafe, unwanted, or simply too difficult to hold.
But the shadow is not necessarily bad. Sometimes our anger gets placed there because we were told taught to be agreeable. Sometimes our sensitivity gets placed there because we were told we were “too emotional”.
Sometimes our confidence, creativity, sexuality, intuition, playfulness, or personal power gets hidden or dimmed because expressing those qualities once brought criticism, rejection, embarrassment, or discomfort.
Shadow work asks us to stop dividing into the parts that are worthy of love and the parts that are not.
“YOU BELONG HERE TOO”
Perhaps shadow work is realizing that healing isn’t becoming someone new. It’s about welcoming home the parts of ourselves we left behind.
HOW DOES THE SHADOW SHOW UP?
-strong emotional triggers
-repeating relationship patterns
-projection onto other people
-self-sabotaging behaviours
-shame or defensiveness
-fear of being seen
-parts of ourselves we try to hide, fix, or reject
-people or qualities we strongly judge
Instead of immediately asking- ”How do I make this go away?” Shadow work invites a different question.
“WHAT IS THIS TRYING TO SHOW ME?”
THE SHADOW CAN HOLD OUR PAIN- BUT IT CAN ALSO HOLD PIECES OF POWER.