Your Shadow Can Help You Develop
Make friends with your darker side and you’ll grow
Everyone has a shadow, a dark side they would rather not acknowledge.
“Man is not truly one, but truly two.” Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
Stevenson had a good point. You have two sides to your nature. One positive, the other negative. Well, it looks that way, but no part of you is inherently bad. Indeed, your shadow can be a catalyst for emotional development.
Use your dark side to help you evolve and it will shrink as your wisdom grows.
Many modern personal-growth tips revolve around deepening positivity. The idea is, focus on optimism and your shadow will cease to exist.
An out of sight, out of mind approach.
The only problem is ignoring your shadow doesn’t make it disappear. Like Stevenson’s Mr Hyde, your dark nature will come out whether or not you know it’s around.
What you focus on grows, but what you repress rises powerfully given time.
Imagine trying to shove a cork under water. No matter what you do, it will bob to the surface. Your shadow is similar. And if you actively hold it down, you’ll get tired in time and let it rise with force.
“That which we do not bring to consciousness appears in our lives as fate.” Carl Jung.
It’s not your fault if you get stuck on the positive path and rest in the bliss of feeling good but getting nowhere.
You live in an era when positivity is supposed to open the doors to Nirvana — modern self-help philosophy supports the notion. It encourages you to recite positive affirmations, focus on good intentions, and do away with negativity.
You can meditate until worries slip or listen to soothing brainwave entrainment designed to make you relax. You might also avoid undesirable topics and divorce your mind from reality.
Stay in the happy zone too long, though, and you’ll forget why you embarked on your journey of self-improvement. You want to expand wisdom and rocket your psyche to a higher level.
Your dark nature tempts you to take the biggest cookie on the plate for yourself.
It tells you the cause of your mental anguish stems from outside you and someone or something is to blame.
Your shadow will help you create dark emotions like hate and jealousy and nudge you to seek revenge, hold grudges, and be aggressive.
At first glance, your darkness might seem ugly. It’s no wonder, if you’re on the path of self-improvement, your first reaction is to stick your head in the sand, chant, burn incense, and push down the cork.
Think of your dark nature as a self-help tool rather than your enemy. When it rises, don’t feed it with sympathy.
Instead of agreeing with what it says, look beneath it and uncover your innermost fears.
Attend to what frightens you in life and you’ll give your shadow a chance to do its job. It exists as a barometer to show you areas of your psyche that need attention.
If you crave the biggest cookie on the plate, and your shadow suggests you hide it from others, maybe you fear not having enough abundance to help you survive.
And if you get road rage, are violent, or are full of resentment, you can be sure such emotions hide other fears too.
Your shadow will aid your emotional intelligence when you use it to reveal the truth about you. It shows you what you’re afraid of, what you desire, and what you don’t want to see.
Why not say hello when your own Mr Hyde appears? Let him pull up a chair and analyze him. The result might be a smarter, wiser, enlightened you.
Copyright © 2019 Bridget Webber. All rights reserved
Your Shadow Can Help You Develop
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