#shadowworkchallenge

[shadow-work-journal]

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[abundancemindsetmama]

Shadow Work Journal Prompts

502 Best Shadow Work Journal Prompts For Healing And Spiritual Growth - Abundance Mindset Mama

Why Shadow Work Journal Prompts? Psst: The FTC wants me to remind you that this website contains affiliate links. That means if you m

[amikismet]

Let’s start off getting to know our old friends Self-Sabotage and Resistance! These two especially like to hang around whenever we are trying to make a change in our lives. Worry not, this is natural because no matter what the change is, it is interpreted by our critter brains (the brain stem, which was the first part of the brain to develop and is responsible for keeping the body alive and comfortable) as a threat. When we are trying to make a change, no matter how big or small, you are asking your mind and body to do something different, which is uncomfortable. The critter brain does not have the ability to know that this change may be necessary (that’s what the rest of your brain is for) because its job is to keep the body in a state of balance, even if the balance it has gotten used to is unhealthy or actually harmful. That is why as soon as you make a decision with your higher brain (which has the capability to reason, use logic, plan for the future, and understand the consequences of your actions), the critter brain starts pulling out all the stops. Because of this, we all have developed a unique set of skills designed to fuck up the intentions we set today to have a better tomorrow. These all boil down to behavior patterns, or habits. Becoming aware of your specific behavior patterns gives you a one up on your critter brain. You can then replace the behavior patterns that are no longer serving your new life goals with behaviors that will serve them. But none of that can happen without AWARENESS. This prompt is designed to help you to gain that awareness. Take time and really think about this one. Keep in mind, you know yourself the better than anyone else (even if you don’t think so right now). #shadowwork #darkgoddess #journaling #shadowworkchallenge #day1 https://www.instagram.com/p/BnUWqGcld4Z/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1s4tgw3e369sa

[kittenblade]

#Repost @cardsandcups (@get_repost) ・・・ December is nearly here! Please join @cyclesandstars and I for the Dark Days of December Challenge! Whether you're in the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere, there are major changes between day and night, light and dark, that we are about to face. We want to explore these themes on a shadow work journey that will prepare us for the new year with a new understanding of ourselves. Using the two full moons (12/3 and 1/1) as the basis of our exploration of the shadow, we will walk from light into darkness and back into light, having gained greater wisdom than what we had when we began. We would love for you to come on this journey! While we're dedicated cardslingers and will likely incorporate a good deal of #tarot and #oracle into our work this month, feel free to approach the prompts in whatever way you feel called. Do a reading with your favorite divination tool(s). Journal. Photojournal. Perform a ritual. Maybe some combination of things. Whatever you choose to do, be sure to share it with us using #darkdaysdecember @divination.challenges #tarotchallenge #tarotchallenge #divinationchallenge #shadowwork #shadowworkchallenge #shadowworker #tarotreadersofinstagram #oraclereadersofinstagram #divinersofinstagram #instagramchallenge #instachallenge #challengeaccepted

[blaqueflameblog]

Day 15- Meditation: Embrace Your Shadow

►Meditate with your shadow poppet. Visualize it being encompassed by white, healing light. Direct as much love and acceptance towards it as you can possibly muster.

And so here we are, the final day of the Shadow work challenge. I want to thank  unmaskingthedivine for putting it together, it’s been a fabulous check in for me and my shadow :)  I also want to thank everyone else who has participated in this challenge. I salute your creativity, authenticity and bravery! Thanks everyone who left me comments - I’m so frustrated that I can’t find a way to respond/ or engage others in conversation - because everyone who has engaged with me has been ever so worthy of connection and communication. Again, big thanks!

As for the final aspect of this challenge, I decided to go with the brightest “shadow” image I have of my shadow’d self. I have to say I am not sure I accept the binary / duality /oppositional way shadow work and shadows are generally conceived of. As if we {in our unshadowed aspect} are “good cops” and our shadow {as something apart and distinct from “us”} are the “bad cops”. As though we {in our unshadowed aspect} are light, bright and “healthy” and our shadows are somehow less evolved, less healthy, less well ... bright. This lines up a bit with  Connie Zweig and Steve Wolf’s notion that     “Beneath the social mask we wear every day, we have a hidden shadow side: an impulsive, wounded, sad, or isolated part that we generally try to ignore.” I think it is just as possible to see our shadow selves as healthier versions of ourselves {from time to time}, less likely to conform or “sell out”  as  Clarissa Pinkola Estes suggests      “Compliance causes a shocking realization:To be ourselves causes us to be exiled by many others, and yet, to comply with what others want causes us to be exiled from ourselves.”

I‘ve done a lot of work with this idea - mostly through engaging in a sort of “discussion” with my shadow - I submitted a poem about this at some point through the challenge, but I’ve done a lot more of it than the one poem. It was very illuminating to hear/ consider how my shadow saw herself, how she saw me, and how she experienced the either / or split between us. Maybe I’m my shadow’s, shadow.

I like the idea of a shadow self being comprised of the collection of ‘choices not taken’ as per Thomas Moore, “The person we choose to be, … automatically creates a dark double — the person we choose not to be.”  I might take some exception to the word “dark” in this context, as it assumes that all the choices we don’t make are somehow lesser, darker choices - rather than just different choices. Certainly in the course of my shadow work there are many instances where the choices I have made were the darker choice, not the lighter - the choices based in compromise and conformity. I think my shadow would say I am plenty dark all on my own and not to dump all my shit onto her. I take that point to heart.

So anyway - me and my shadow love and accept each other, its something we “both” work on ... we send each other “white, healing” light, and acknowledge we both have strengths and weaknesses, we both could use a little compassion and caring, and neither of us are inherently better or worse than the other. Truth is, we are each other. That’s integration.

[bebeauxyeuxbleus]

14-day-shadow-work-challenge

Day 7- Critical Analysis: Dissect an Unhealthy Habit

►Analyze a habit that serves as a distraction from yourself and/or impedes your well-being. Ask yourself when you developed this habit, what caused you to develop it, and how it affects your life. When you get an urge to partake in this habit, take a moment to note what feelings you are experiencing. You can trace those feelings back and try to understand what inevitably caused them, many times this stems from a childhood experience. Go ahead and indulge in this habit as you normally would. Then ask yourself how partaking in it alleviates you and why you feel you cannot be alleviated through other means.

Smoking - Mostly it just calms me down, at this point it’s addiction more than anything. When I turned 18 it was like a “Yay I’m 18 get it out of the way” kind of thing, and I really only smoked once every couple months. I was far from addicted. Then I had to break up with my fiance last year and I was smoking because I hurt so bad, and slowly it got worse.

Scab picking - I’ve done this forever, I don’t know why I started and I don’t know why I still do it, it’s a horrible habit and no matter how many times I try stopping it’s like it gets worse. Probably an anxiety thing. Nail biting - I can thankfully say I’ve been getting much better with this one and only do it once every few months now. It was a nerves thing probably. Now its more like I’m too lazy to go grab some nail clippers. Can’t bite acrylics tho :)

[blaqueflameblog]

Day 13- Artistic Expression: Forge Your Shadow   ►Create a poppet that represents your Shadow. While making it, project onto it all of the shadow aspects you have explored in the past twelve days, as well as any others.

“Be hole, be dust, be dream, be wind/Be night, be dark, be wish, be mind,/Now slip, now slide, now move unseen,/Above, beneath, betwixt, between.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

Hmm well, I am sure this isn’t quite “as expected” however, not being a poppet sort of girl, I thought I would share some photographic ‘self-portraits’ I did to “capture” my shadow. I did indeed, project my shadow aspects into each of these images and I keep them close to hand, along with “shadow” poems and so forth.

To me, these are “integrative” photos - something about self-acceptance and not needing to “pretty” things up - but also, to capture that a shadow is not always dark and dire - sometimes it shines brightly and is beautiful. I suppose the other thing I was hoping to capture in these is the ephemeral nature of shadow - how shadow selves are a little fluid, a little shifty - a little hard to have sit still so you can “see” them. Sometimes we need to court our shadow and woo it into being.

[blaqueflameblog]

Day 12- Critical Analysis: Assess Your Core Beliefs

►Analyze your fundamental beliefs. Ask yourself if these beliefs are reasonable and worth keeping or if your life would improve if you were to eliminate them.

Ahhhh this was so fun to make today- a story by gif...My beliefs ... they are tricky because they are evidenced beliefs - that is to say, I have had them put to the test  time and time again, and ya know ... it is what it is.

So what do I believe?

1. I believe people are flawed - they can sometimes be breathtakingly lovely - and they can also be bastard coated bastards with bastard filling. In fact, I think we can all be bastards - me too. I try not to be a bastard and I prefer other people who do the same.

2.I tend to be a realist. I lean toward assuming, not the worst exactly - but hmmm ... I am neutral. I expect nothing of people and I am no longer devastated when people are shitty.

3.  I believe the solution to this, to whatever degree, is to lower my expectations. I don’t expect people to be breathtakingly lovely {but when they are, man I am blown away and I love it}.

4. As per yesterday's post, I believe life would be a lot easier if I didn’t talk, if I could pretend to care about things I don’t care about, and not care so much about the things I genuinely do.

5. However, I can’t do that and I don’t want to. So I will carry on doing that thing that I do. Be me.

6. And at the end of the day, I believe that being just me, full stop, is a great weeding out tool. The people who are meant to be in my life stick around and they are AMAZING breathtakingly lovely people -- and the people who aren’t meant to be here, leave, generally pretty quickly - and I do hope the door doesn’t hit them on their ass on their way out of my life.

I’m okay with all these beliefs. They are tested by fire and they support me in being me.