If I had to describe shadow work in one word, it would be introspection. Introspection is the examination of your own mental state and is necessary in order to learn more about your fundamental nature. Although it may sound off-putting and even scary at first, shadow work is a necessary component in the process of healing. We all have aspects of ourselves that weâve rejected and hidden away out of fear. Through shadow work, weâre able to reflect on our thoughts, emotions, and habits so that we can find the root cause of our suffering and heal ourselves. By reincorporating those aspects of ourselves that weâve denied, we feel more fulfilled and can begin to love ourselves fully.Â
Where does shadow work come from?Â
The concept of the shadow self comes from Carl Jung who believed that our shadow self is the subconscious aspect, or âdark sideâ, of our personality that our conscious ego doesnât identify with. However, I would like to clarify that âdarkâ does not imply or equate with bad. That which resides outside of our consciousness can be either good or bad, but arenât inherently reflective of our value or âgoodnessâ as a person.Â
Although these repressed aspects of ourselves can manifest negatively, it isnât because those parts of us are âbadâ, but that the process of repression is inherently painful and toxic. This is reflected by Jung when he states, âEveryone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individualâs conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.â He believed that until weâve merged our conscious and subconscious selves, that our conscious would be âthe slave of the autonomous shadowâ. This is due to the shadow self overwhelming our conscious selves by falling victim to our own self-imposed traps.Â
Through assimilating this shadow self, not over-identifying with it, Jung believed we go through the process of enantiodromia, thereby integrating the subconscious by reincorporating our shadow selves into our personality and allowing us to solidify ourselves through wholeness. He best described this by stating "assimilation of the shadow gives a man body, so to speak.â However, donât fall into the misconception that shadow work is a short-term practice. Shadow work is a continuous practice and integration of the shadow self is a will take place throughout your life.
In the last question, I identified that practicing self-reflection is a key component of shadow work, but what does that mean? What am I supposed to be reflecting on? Well, the first thing that you should focus on is being present throughout the day. Identify feelings that come up throughout the day and observe them objectively. What situation or interaction triggered these emotions? How did I react to those emotions? Were my emotions controlling me or was I in control of my emotions? Why did this situation or interaction cause me to feel this way? How did I cope with those feelings (self-harming, lashing out at others, communicating my feelings, journalling, etc.)? Did I punish myself for getting upset? If so, why?Â
There are numerous ways to reflect on your feelings and experiences in order to get a better understanding of yourself. Through evaluating how you react to situations, which situations upset you, and how you managed those feelings, youâre able to build the foundation to understanding your emotions and bridge the gap between your subconscious and conscious mind.
Once youâve done this, youâll find that the emotions you feel in the present are reflective of unhealed emotions from your past. Perhaps the reason you feel that youâre unable to set boundaries as an adult is because as a child, your parents never respected your boundaries by going through your phone or diary, yelling at you when you said no to a request, forcing you into situations that made you feel you had no choice.Â
By identifying the root cause of your emotional pain, youâre able to address it in the present and heal from the trauma. The simplest way that Iâve found to address them is through journalling. You can purchase a physical journal or even use your notes app, either way, youâre writing out your feelings and reflections to gain deeper insight. Itâs important to remember that this looks different for anyone and that the best way to approach shadow work is by doing what feels most natural! You can choose to stick to self-reflective journal prompts, vent about whatever is upsetting you, write letters to whoever has hurt you, etc. Ultimately, you can guide yourself based off of what you feel you need and where you are in your journey.
What parts of yourself do you find yourself rejecting the most? Many of us have experienced the pain of rejection in some aspects of our lives and sometimes, itâs incredibly painful and leaves us with long-lasting wounds. We end up going through our lives carrying baggage that we donât even know we have! Many times, Iâve found myself wondering why I felt so repulsed by aspects of myself and why I felt so strongly that they needed to be locked away forever. I couldnât allow myself or others to see my truest self, my whole self, out of fear. I was scared of being rejected, shamed, humiliated by the people around me. I was scared of hurting other people by being myself and of being hurt by others. Thatâs no way to live, is it? When we tell ourselves that aspects of ourselves arenât good enough, we end up going through life devaluing ourself. Weâve broken our own trust by rejecting ourselves, weâve told ourselves that we arenât good enough or worthy of love. In shadow work, youâre called to go inward and unpack everything that weâve kept hidden for years and sometimes even decades.Â
Bring the parts of yourself that youâve repressed to the surface and nourish them with love, allow yourself to see that ALL OF YOU is deserving of love and support. For you, that could mean unlearning your unhealthy beliefs about food or eating, allowing yourself to be emotional around the people you love (despite how much you were told that you were too emotional, a crybaby, too sensitive in the past), allowing yourself to relax without feeling guilty about not being productive because you recognize your needs (even though you feel your sense of worth is tied to being productive at the cost of your own health).
Common misconceptions about shadow work?
Shadow work is evil or bad, the shadow is evil or badÂ
The purpose of shadow work is healing through working with your subconscious to release repressed aspects of yourself and heal from painful, traumatic experiences. Your shadow side is simply your unconscious and to believe that itâs bad is to believe that you are bad. Itâs merely the part of yourself that you arenât aware of consciously and shouldnât be feared.Â
Certain emotions are âbadâ
When you let go of the idea that emotions are either good or bad, youâll allow yourself to just be and stop putting so much pressure on yourself to feel âgoodâ all of the time. Happiness isnât a constant state of being so stop expecting to be all of the time, we have a range of emotions for a reason so stop being ashamed of them. Your feelings are natural and if you feel like theyâre out of control and something to be ashamed of, there is nothing wrong with that! Itâs okay to feel like your emotions are controlling you because that isnât permanent. Your feelings arenât permanent and are completely manageable with proper guidance! The reason you feel like your emotions are controlling you is because you probably donât have the knowledge to cope with them in an effective and healthy way. Itâs helpful to sit with your emotions alone and look at them objectively without placing any judgement on them, this will help you calm down and assess your feelings. From there, you can identify what you need to relax and recover as well as acknowledge to yourself that your feelings are natural. When you stop categorizing your emotions as bad, theyâre no longer shameful to experience and therefore you can see with better clarity how to cope with them and move on.
Iâve already released it soâŚ
Why does it still keep popping up in my head?
Why havenât I moved on?
Why am I not making progress?
With the rise of self development and spirituality, I find that more and more people are rushing to complete their healing. Healing is a continuous, life-long cycle and not a destination. Putting the pressure on yourself to reach the place of ultimate healing is not only toxic, but it impedes your ability to actually heal anything. Healing is about love, compassion, and patience and itâs not going to happen according to a timeline. Allow yourself the time to experience your emotions, see them objectively, forgive yourself and others and move on without the pressure of expectations.Â
 Another reason that you could be experiencing this is that despite the work you think youâve done, it hasnât been sufficient. Iâve found that a lot of journal prompts provided online are surface level at best and can be more pacifying than revealing. If youâre not feeling anything while doing your inner work, youâre not doing it correctly. Ultimately, this is about uncovering what makes us UNCOMFORTABLE and moving through those feelings. When you allow yourself to experience the sadness, hurt, anger, and/or frustration than youâre telling yourself that these feelings are okay and donât need to be suppressed. The reality is that no matter what youâre feeling, you are allowed to experience those emotions and itâs only human! Unfortunately, many people associate lower vibrational emotions as bad, but this is a huge misconception! Telling yourself that anger, sadness, etc. are âbadâ implies that you shouldnât experience these emotions and that you have to get rid of them which is not only wrong, but unhealthy. There is no right or wrong emotions so donât buy into the belief that you should feel a certain way, simply allow yourself to be and youâll find that itâs much easier to navigate your emotions and needs. The only way to make it to the other side is by wading through the water, be patient and know that youâre feeling exactly what you should be. When you stop censoring yourself, youâll discover a newfound sense of freedom and wholeness.Â
 If you find yourself circling back to certain topics, for example, your ex-boyfriend than perhaps there are triggers in your environment that remind you of the situation, you have more that needs to be addressed that you may not have been ready for or aware of previously (hence why shadow work is a practice that is ongoing), or theyâre representative of a deeper issue that youâre repressing. Whatever the cause is, the same methods as earlier will apply and can be discerned through your own intuition.Â
What are some basic journal prompts that I can do?
What feelings come up when you think of ____?
How did that experience make you feel emotionally? How did it make you feel about yourself? How did it make you feel about the other person or people?
Write a letter to yourself, your inner child, the people whoâve hurt you, and the people youâve hurt. Express how you feel honestly, without holding back and then forgive yourself and the other person.
If you could say anything to yourself or another person for closure, what would it be?
How have these situations and experiences impacted your mental health? How have they affected your belief system about yourself, other people, and the world?
What about yourself are you ashamed of? What about yourself are you embarrassed of? What about yourself makes you angry? What do you regret? Why do you feel this way about yourself and where do these feelings stem from?
What makes you feel most alone? What makes you feel most loved? How can you incorporate that knowledge into your life to make it better?
Whatâs the most hurtful thing someone has said or done to you? Why did it hurt you so much? How does it still affect you now? How can you heal from it and allow yourself to move on?
What do you need to forgive yourself for? What do you need to forgive others for?
Where do you feel you lack security in your life? Why? How does this impact your life and your relationships?
This is a list of generic prompts for you to start with, but feel free to message me if you need help with more specific topics or I can make another post altogether for journal prompts.
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