There are so many “gurus” and people claiming to do shadow work for you but the bottom line is you can be guided and assisted through shadow work but it has to come from within.
Shadow work is how you integrate the aspects of you unconscious psyche into the conscious experience you are currently having here on earth. This allows the positive aspects of the shadow to express themselves. Shadows are not “bad” or “good” they just simply are a fact of who we are. When properly channeled the shadow self has traits that can help assist you in personal development and growth.
Where the dark part in shadow work comes from is that we shed light on our dark self instead of pretending to be “all light” – the shadow side of a personality is all of the parts of yourself that you hide or don’t want to admit in having. It at first is unconscious until we are able to realize that life is just a mirror. All we see in others that we dislike is something within ourselves we are recognizing. It at first is an unconscious side and with shadow work and consistent effort we become self aware of our shadow self.
Accepting your shadow is so important in the healing process and the only path to achieve this is in self love and a whole lotta grace. You can’t love the parts of yourself that your happy with and hate the parts of yourself you don’t want to be associated with. Realizing that you need to appreciate, love and accept every little detail about yourself and appearance is when magic begins to unfold.
Shadow behaviors are often associated with defensiveness, manipulation, lying, aggression, or the resistance to change.
Carl Jung is who originally realized we could connect our subconscious and conscious minds through this powerful process of shadow work and integrating the two together. He broke it down into four main archetypes.
- The Persona – How we present ourselves to the world.
- The Shadow – The archtype consisting of the sex and life instincts. This is composed of repressed thoughts and ideas. Our weaknesses, desires, instincts and shortcomings.
- The Anima – A feminine image in the male and a male image in the feminine. “Gender roles and how they should behave”
- The Self – This is the unification of the unconsciousness and consciousness. The two different personality centers are the ego and unconscious mind.
If you are ready to step into your purpose, alignment & light.
If you’re ready for the not so “sexy” part of spirituality, where the true healing and transformation comes then I encourage you to begin the shadow work.
I personally have gone through this extensively and with assistance and training to guide and help you every step of the way from journal prompts, to processing sessions, to acceptance and identifying and every detail in between. As we enter into this shadow work blog series and you feel called at any time you can schedule your session https://calendly.com/thesweetestlittlelife/30-minute-shadow-work-call