Shadow Self

Our shadow self represents our subconscious mind and includes our hidden qualities, desires, and qualities we dislike. It is born through interactions with others and can manifest in unhealthy ways if repressed. The shadow greatly influences our personality and can rule over our lives if unchecked. We can identify our darker side by judging others or playing the victim. Shadow work helps us improve our lives by integrating our subconscious with loving energies. Self-love is crucial for healing. We should ask our hidden part questions and keep a journal to note our interactions. Inner dialogue and self-reflection are important. Reviewing our interactions and reactions with others helps us become more self-aware. Working on our shadows leads to a more joyful and fulfilled life. Our shadow self is a representation of our subconscious mind, our hidden qualities and desires as well as the qualities we dislike within us. The shadow contains a lot of potential which is not recognized and owned. According to Carl Jung, the shadow is a tight passage, a narrow door between the conscious and unconscious. Our shadow is born when we start interacting with the people around us. It makes us unique, just a part of what we are, no good or bad. When we repress our shadow, it comes out in unhealthy ways. For example, if a child is mercilessly bullied during the school time, during his growing years, he might build a layer of protection around himself and that protective layer can manifest in several ways, such as withdrawal from activities involving others, or always one up position to show how superior he is. Shadow self is our inner voice and feeling that greatly influence our personality. If left unchecked, it can rule over our life without even knowing about it. When we repress our shadow, it comes out in unhealthy ways, we need to spot our shadow self. We can easily identify our darker side by judging people, by playing a victim card. We may be obsessed, we can be manipulative, we may have anxiety or anger issues, phobia, or we may get triggered easily, we may have relationship issues, we may have tendency to project our problems on the people under our command, so it is very important for us to set our boundaries. Our shadow self is a part of our conscious mind that we don't want to accept as a part of our personality because of our dark qualities. With the help of shadow work, we can improve our life quality and growth because it helps us not to project the hate through criticism, judgment, and rejection. We can heal our internal wounds by integrating our subconscious part with the loving energies. Self love is the most important part of inner healing. Deep inside us, our true essence do not transform. We need to keep asking from our hidden part, question our belief system. We can prepare a journal to note down our interaction with the shadow self. First of all, we should notice our feelings, identify our emotions, locate our fears and core beliefs. We need not to be judgmental, we are trying to recognize the phase, also we are getting clarity about the facts, cause of the negative emotions, patterns of behavior, and maybe our insecurities, we have to work on it. We can practice inner dialogue as if we are talking to a mirror, hey ya, we can do it practically, stand in front of the mirror, start self-talk, notice the body language, the facial expressions, even our comfort level. At this point of time, we need not to pay attention to the external forces, people around us, because we are trying to be a better version of ourselves, we have to focus on just one thing very specifically, very clearly, in a more practical, determined and creative way. We can write down all the activities, each and every minute detail, everything we like to do or don't like to do, we need to ask more often, am I doing the right thing? My strong views about certain issues are helping me or not? Should I change my approach? Observe and write all the feelings, emotions and sentiments attached with it, it will help us to be more aware of our inner core, let the personal shadow run wild, for more confidence and most importantly, for the peace of mind. Even on the days when we are unable to write or express our feelings, this journal will help us to keep our spirits high. Shadow work is a helpful tool and a unique journey for our personality development and personal growth with more intuition and creativity. At least one activity we can do at the end of the day, we need to review our interactions and conversation with others, along with our own reaction and response to them. Carl Jung rightly said, until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. Each single one of us have a shadow side, the more we work on our shadows through self-knowledge, the more joyful and fulfilled our life can become.