Doing Shadow Work these past few months has healed places in
my soul that I didn’t even know were hurting.
The most powerful thing I have found in doing Shadow Work is that I am
able to easily get to the root of many of the everyday worries and aggravations
that turn a regular day into misery.
These are beliefs that have controlled my life since I was a child, and
have been around so long that I can’t even see them.
Shadow work allows me to see a different
perspective on the world that I didn’t know existed.
It has radically changed my life and I hope
it can change yours too.
What is your shadow?
Your shadow is the part of yourself that you have tried to push away or
ignore. It is not necessarily good or
bad, but it is a part of you that you don’t acknowledge. Often as children we learn that we need to
act a certain way and we therefore push any parts of ourselves that don’t fit
that mold aside. As adults we have the
option to embrace those aspects of ourselves again and become whole!
As children we see the world as black and white. If we have to act one way to be “good” than
the opposite is “bad,” and needs to be suppressed. Say you grew up in a household that valued
quiet; being noisy and standing out may have been deemed as “bad.” This is not some sinister plan set up by
those raising you, just preference, but the result may be that as an adult you
struggle to voice your opinions and stand out in a crowd.
Some shadow aspects are caused by trauma, and we may learn
some lessons that are very hard to undo.
Our brain may have learned that it is very unsafe to try and access
these parts of our shadow. We all learn
these lessons while figuring out how to function in this world as children, in
loving and not so loving families, from friends, teachers, extended families,
books, and television, really anything that happens to touch and resonate in
our young and malleable brains.
We also can form shadow as adult but a fully formed adult
brain has an easier time recognizing that we have formed a shadow. Those parts still need to be accessed and
reclaimed but the shadow formed as a child is harder to access. Those shadows seem to have always been there
and we don’t always remember their creation, so they seem to just be
truth.
What if we don’t access our shadow? Often we lose important parts of ourselves
and those parts may act out in order to get attention. Have you ever had an angry outburst or a crying
jag that was out of proportion to the situation? That is usually your shadow trying to get
your attention. Accessing your shadow
can feel scary but remember, it is already part of you, and often a part that
needs healing in order to rejoin you as a supportive part of your whole
psyche.
Reaching for the shadow is an important process if we are
going to become the whole adult we want to be.
We want to choose who we are, not have it dictated by someone else. Often our shadow aspects are scared children
who need a hug. They need to be
appreciated for how the tried to help us growing up and they need to know that
they can come out and will be heard and supported. The shadow will rear its head regardless of
whether you acknowledge it. Would you
rather put your arms around your shadow and tell it you understand then have it
periodically take over your body or prevent you from accessing some parts of
your talent and abilities? Don’t fear
your shadow, it is you, but it is much easier to handle when you know it!
Do
you have a part of yourself that you try to hide from others? Maybe it
is a part that makes you sad or embarrassed or arrives unexpectedly
with outburst of anger or tears. These parts are your shadow. They are
the parts that you learned could not be shared with the world or even
with yourself. In this workshop we will look to heal these parts and
learn how to incorporate them to become whole.
Join my Tribe for a Wonderful Period of Growth, I can't wait to Journey with you.
Jessica Cross
www.jessicacrossasmr.com
