Shadow Work

Posted on October 07, 2021 by Kirsten Rhode, One of Thousands of Spirituality Coaches on Noomii.

The infamous shadow work compendium!!! Please pay attention to this and do the exercises. It will help you more than you will ever comprehend at this moment. Be honest, be rigorously honest with yourself. Then spend some time and work on this. Your friends, spouses, loved ones and colleagues will be grateful but most of all you will feel a sense of wholeness unlike ever before. What is your shadow?

Safety, comfort and belonging are the most obvious ones. Well as children when we were scolded for certain behaviors or admonished for expressing parts of ourselves that didn’t fit into conventional customs or practices and those scoldings or punishments for acting in that manner threatened one of our basic needs. Maybe being scolded at home threatened our safety at home, or being reprimanded or laughed at in school threatened our sense of belonging. We therefore adjusted our behavior to gratify our needs and those parts of us that we were scolded for were put in a box and locked away. They never disappear though, they are very much a part of you and they comprise who you really are. Children accumulate that box of that un-accepted or discouraged parts and drag it around behind them but it is only out of view, it is still part of our subconscious. When we deny any part of ourselves, we disown it but what we don’t really consciously acknowledge is that it will turn against us if we continue to ignore it. The shadow can operate completely on its own, with or without your consent. This is why we say things we don’t mean when we are angry, why we say one thing but our body says something else entirely, we do things we wouldn’t normally do and we let this seep in to affect our relationships and friendships. Whatever you ignore in yourself will show up in someone else, it’s called projection. What we ignore we will project onto others because our ego uses it as a defense mechanism. These psychological distortions will distort your reality and give us a slanted view of who we really are. You want to know yourself completely, right? Sure you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this right now! Kudos to you for deciding to do this work. No one likes to discuss their flaws or insecurities but it is imperative if you want to heal yourself, be honest with yourself, love yourself and also love others wholeheartedly.

You are showing up for yourself in this beautiful confident way and loving all of yourself, leaving no stone unturned. That deserves applause. You are far more courageous than most, who are content to leave the shadow buried. You know better, you understand that burying it will only cause it to rear its head in some other area of your life. You are shining light into the darkest corners of your psyche and looking for metaphorical monsters.

You are a warrior of the psyche and that’s epic! This will enable you to co create your own story, where you are the hero around which the narrative collides and unfurls. You are taking charge.

No matter whether you sit down to conquer this all in one day or in short bursts, please make sure to finish it all. Establish a rhythm and set a date to finish it.

Lean into this work and find a rhythym that feels effective to you.

I want you to please ground yourself before you begin. Clear your mind.I find chanting the mantra OM 30x is the most helpful. I also encourage you to be rigorously honest with yourself here.

Above all, remember that the time you spend doing shadow work is a sacred gift to yourself but also to the people in your life – everyone you come across benefits from your sincere dedication to your personal development. Also, it will help you grow leaps and bounds in your own work and release fears and inhibitions you have suffered with your whole life.

PREPARE TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE