Carl Jung introduced the concept of our shadow selves in the 20th century and the idea of Shadow Work has taken off since then. He believed that our shadow selves housed areas that we are not in touch with; our repressed thoughts and behaviors that we deem "undesirable".
Shadow Work is the process of getting in touch with those parts of yourself so that you can make more conscious decisions instead of being ruled by things you are less aware of.
I believe that there is a place and purpose for all aspects of ourselves. And that yes, some of the behaviors that we have may be undesirable or limiting, they most often came to be as a way of us protecting ourselves.
Shadow Work is the process of sorting through our thoughts, patterns, beliefs and behaviors that present challenges in our lives. Journaling with a specific purpose, perhaps. The goal isn't to shame ourselves into new behavior, or cut parts of ourselves away. It's to identify where these things originated and why. But even further than that, decided if those things are still necessary as a means of protection.
When we built these behaviors (walls of protection) they were needed. Most of them probably formed when we were children; when we were less capable of defending ourselves (either from physical, emotional or perceived threats). We carried those beliefs and nurtured them as we grew older, most likely, without even realizing it.
If you are finding that these belief systems are now doing more harm than benefiting you, it would only be natural to wish that you can change them.
The difference in my approach to Shadow Work is that instead of harboring negative feelings for these beliefs and actions, I would rather appreciate them for the protection that they offered. And then do the work to let my Shadow Self know that those measures are no longer needed. And release the tension that constantly being on guard (whether or not we realize it) causes in our bodies.
There is a particular peace to being able to work with your "demons" instead of against them. After all, no matter what you are labeling them, they are a part of you. And you deserve to remain whole.
Cutting off, stomping out or ignoring pieces of you leaves you less than that. I believe that we are all powerful creatures. But often, we have cut off access to parts of ourselves that we may label ugly or bad or "too much" , thus cutting us off from our inherent power.
But I invite you to challenge that belief, if no other belief than that one.
There is no part of you that is ugly, bad or "too much".
Society may not agree with me. You may not agree with me. But the work that I do is to prove society and maybe you, wrong.
We have been taught that there is something wrong with us. From a very young age taught that there is always something we should be working to improve or change. And, obviously, I support growth and change. It's the whole purpose to life, in my opinion, but there are drastically different motives behind these ideas.
What we're taught by the media, society and even our family is that you need to work to change because you are defective in some way. My thoughts center around choosing to work and grow because that is the natural order of things. You are not starting in a place of "wrongness". You are exactly where you need to be. And if you are comfortable, happy and content there, I suppose there is no reason to want to grow or move at all, and that is always a choice. After all, there is no comfort in growth, or so they say, but there is a sense of comfort in what you know. And that's what can keep you stagnant. Doing what you did before (even if it isn't working) is something you know. Safe, but not nourishing. If you do what you have always done you know what the day is going to look like and consequently, even what the results will likely look like.
But ask yourself, why should you be afraid of discomfort? I'm not saying run head first into things that hurt. But Shadow Work is hard. Looking at yourself and these things that you have probably labeled in some extremely negative way and changing your whole belief system about them? Yea, that sounds uncomfortable.
But people who find their way towards terms like Shadow Work don't usually do so because they're loving everything about where they are at
Stepping out into the unknown is scary. But you don't have to do it on your own. And that's where the change is. The first step is to realize that you want it. The second is to step off that ledge, and if you let me, I'll grab your hand and offer a parachute and while there is still that dip in your stomach from the initial jump, there's some safety there too, you just have to lean into it.
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