Shadow Work

As this month starts the year, many are having Shadow aspects come up for them.  And this is a darker time of the year, as the sun is not seeing us much! So let us delve into some Shadow Work...

In order to repair, heal, and grow on a mental, emotional, and spiritual level, we need to practice Shadow Work. Shadow Work is a practice that helps us to become whole again. It works on the premise that you must 100% OWN your Shadow, rather than avoiding or repressing it, to experience deep healing.  But what is shadow work?

First, I will tell you what it is not!  It is not “getting in touch with your dark side” like Darth Vader or a mass murderer.  Nor is it about trying to turn from the dark in order to turn yourself into a being of pure light. If anything, that would be spiritual bypassing and a total avoidance of doing actual shadow work altogether. You shouldn’t be burying negative emotions and thoughts or treating them as things to be avoided.  Doing that is what buries them deep inside you and causes disease, like cancer and others.  In addition, it isn’t about shaming others for dark that you see in them.

Shadow work is about facing your shortcomings and working on them.  This sounds a LOT simpler than it is.  This is the hard work.  No one wants to look at what you will need to look at in order to be successful with shadow work.  This can be very painful, especially for those with mental issues such as PTSD.  It is about unpacking your inner baggage.  It is about facing your triggers head on. Truly, it is about taking on the responsibility of dealing with your issues.

This is something every human needs to do.  While those that have experienced trauma may feel a stronger need and a stronger release from it being done, you don’t need to have experienced trauma to need to do this.  Also, it doesn’t matter if you are a priest, priestess, life coach, healer, or guru.  Everyone needs to be doing this!  You will always have baggage to unpack, issues to confront, and stuff to deal with. This is all part of being human.

When enough baggage builds up that hasn’t been faced, that is when people break.  Don’t allow things to go to the point where you are falling off the deep end.  Do yourself a favor and start the work now.  If you don’t feel close to breaking do it still!  Everyone needs this.

A wonderful way for this to start is to simply start to be aware of your internal responses to external stimuli.  When something/someone triggers you, begin looking at that!  Think about exactly the way that you feel from that trigger.  Think about when you felt that way before.  And before that.  And before that.  Go back to the earliest time.  You will be feeling all the feelings as you go through the memories.  That is part of it.  I also recommend that you journal as you do this.  The writing process helps you to ‘get it out’ of you.  And it helps you to see it, in black and white, in front of you.  Take responsibility for your part in all those memories.  What may have been your shortcomings in your actions or perceptions at the time?  This isn’t about judging yourself.  This is about facing yourself.

In the looking, we see things as a bigger picture than we were able to see before.  That naturally shifts something inside us to begin to have a new perception.  The process also allows us to truly release the hurts from our spirits and our bodies.  When we avoid them, we shove them deep down, causing disease that I spoke of. 

I am sorry to say, but this isn’t a once and done thing to do.  This is a life-long process.  There will always be new things. There will always be new events to unpack and re-look at.  Allow yourself to let the feelings of it all pass through you while you recall them.  Allow yourself to look at yourself in all of it and feel all of the feelings associated with that.

The things that we unpack, the aspects of ourselves that we see and decide to shift, the traumas that we experienced that are being emotionally re-lived through a trigger, these are our shadows.  When we face the shadows and do the work we need to do with them, we are able to then see more clearly and more deeply appreciate the light.

Blessings to you all and your shadow work!  Love and Light!