Shadow Work and Dark Night of the Soul

Everyone has a shadow: A neglected part of themselves that never sees the light of awareness.

This shadow might take the form of the insecure beta male that you strive to oppress. After all those years of being bullied, no. You’d never let anyone take advantage of you again. You’re a big strong man who has a lot to show, and that’s the image you would die to uphold.

Maybe it’s the drug-addicted loser you avoid looking at in the mirror.  Or the abhorrent whore, the shame to your family, the person who became a disastrous failure in life. So you work your ass off and flaunt your self-worth to make sure you never touch that image with a ten-foot pole.

But that pathetic, ugly, painful version of you still exists. They’re still a part of you. They’ve just been banished from your awareness and locked in the dark basement of your subconscious.

This shadow hasn’t been resolved, it hasn’t been healed. It has just been exiled, but it’s more a part of you than ever.

So it’s time to confront that shadow. It’s time to integrate and heal. But you can’t do that without looking into those places you don’t dare to go.

This is what shadow work prompts are for. They’re cues to help you confront the neglected parts of yourself so you can work on the issue rather than just avoiding it.

Your shadows come in the form of past traumas and unresolved wounds that have never properly been dealt with. Instead of healing the root cause, you slapped on a persona and pretended to be someone you’re not in an attempt to cover up your ugly side.

After all, this is the quicker solution. At least it feels like a solution, for a while. But if you’re looking to heal, grow, and truly become your best self, you need to be genuine.

This dark icky mess that you locked in the closet manifests into insecurities, distorted perceptions about reality and oneself, limiting belief systems, and a whole mountain of trash that really does not serve you.

This manifestation is the shadow self – the broken, dysfunctional side of you. A portrait of your lower self.

The shadow self cannot be abandoned. Neglecting it just adds more fuel to the fire. Despising it just makes you despise yourself. The shadow self is a disintegrated part of who you are, but it’s still a part of yourself, so it should be treated as such.

Acknowledging your shadows is one part of the equation, but integrating them is another. This is where these shadow work prompts & help you ask the real questions, and act as a launchpad to create deep healing within yourself.

Check out how to do it