A Guide to Shadow Work

Whether we realize it or not, we have a shadow self. This theory, first proposed by psychiatrist Carl Jung, states that our minds are split so there is the persona and the shadow self. The persona, which comes from the Latin word for “mask”, is the person that the world sees. Today we are going to take a deeper look at the shadow self, shadow work, and how to do shadow work.

The shadow self is the other side of our persona that we and others do not see. This is the side that holds all of our negative emotions, such as rage, greed, and the need for power, to name a few. Basically, the emotions that we try to hide away are all part and parcel of the shadow. In a nutshell, if we don't like something about ourselves, it gets relegated to the shadow.

It's funny how so many things in our adult lives go back to our childhoods. This is also true of the shadow self. Let's dive a bit deeper into that. As children, caregivers look after us, and we do the things they tell us to do, because that is just how things work. If our caregivers scold us for speaking our minds, we usually choose to never do it again in order to avoid getting into trouble.

We internalize those feelings and they are tucked safely into our subconscious. But, there can and often do come times when these feelings are triggered for one reason or another. For instance, maybe someone around you is being outspoken, when you have been taught not to be.

Just because the shadow self is the home of those repressed negative feelings, it doesn't necessarily mean that it is always a negative thing. In fact, it can often be just the opposite. The shadow is filled with your untapped talents that you aren't even aware of, at least not yet.

Here is an example of what we are talking about. Someone is born with a strong sense of who they are, and knows exactly what they do and do not like. This person isn't afraid to say what they are thinking, but is often told from childhood that they cannot behave in this manner. That confidence is then rejected, and buried deep within the shadow self.

All of our personality traits are born into us. We are complete at birth. But, along the way, we are conditioned to do things the way society thinks we should do them. We learn as children what we are and are not supposed to do, and as mentioned earlier, repress what might be seen as negative aspects of our personalities. Even though we may not realize it, we all have a shadow self.

In order to get to know and understand the shadow, we can do what is appropriately called shadow work. This is a long process that is very personal. In order to do shadow work, we must be ready to be able to look deep within ourselves. Only then can we begin to understand the shadow self and become whole.

The first step in the process is awareness. There are always going to be things that will trigger the shadow self, and it is these things that we need to be aware of in order to be able to process this and get to know the shadow self.

The second step is shadow integration. Once we are aware of the shadow self and why it was created in the first place, we can begin to integrate it into our outward personas. Basically, instead of repressing, we are welcoming those feelings and emotions that we are conditioned to hide away deep in our subconscious. We need to allow ourselves to feel all emotions, and learn how to recognize and deal with them head-on instead of hiding them. Then, we need to realize that all of these emotions have value, and that they are part of us.

Before you can begin doing shadow work, you need to ask yourself who you are, what you want, what you need to let go of in order to get what you want, what you need to become, and how you want to show up. There are several exercises you can do with shadow work, including:

There are actually several benefits of shadow work, including the following:

There are times when you should not do shadow work, at least not by yourself. If have low self-esteem, it could be more damaging to learn about negative things in your own personality. It may be that you will need to ask for help. In this case, it may be better to ask for help from a therapist or someone else who can help to supervise the shadow work.

We can all benefit from doing shadow work in order to reach out to our shadow selves. In fact, in order for us to be complete as we were at birth, we need to do this. Don't be afraid to look inward and learn more about your shadow self. Also, don't be afraid to reach out for help in dealing with the things you have repressed over the years. Do whatever it takes to understand your shadow self and let it be part of the wonderful person you truly are.