Shadow Work — The key to living a life full of freedom and Joy
So, what exactly is Shadow Work?
“Shadow Work is the path of the light warrior”
-Carl Jung
Due to the term shadow, it is very easy to associate this concept with sinister, evil, and dark things; maybe Shadow Work is a spiritual practice that involves darkness… or it can include evil aspects or personalities.
The truth is that none of this is correct.
We are born complete, only most of us live that state of completeness very little. Some live it more, some lose it completely, others temporarily, and the luckiest remain fully aware. Since we are relationally dependent on our parents to survive, this society/culture dictates what is good and what is not in a society that is not entirely evolved. What is acceptable and what is not. What is right and what is wrong.
What is acceptable and unacceptable depends on the subjective perspectives of the family in which you were born. Our family shapes what we consider as unacceptable, positive, negative, and acceptable aspects.
In the name of survival, being dependent on the relationship with those around us from birth, natural or adoptive parents, we do whatever we can to deny, hide, and suppress aspects that are not accepted by parents while exaggerating those accepted by the family. This creates a separation of consciousness into the conscious part (suppressed) and the subconscious part (suppressed).
The first act of self-rejection
Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud discovered that humans contain conscious and unconscious aspects (we are not aware).
Consciousness means Light and Clarity. To be aware of something means to see it, to put it in the light of the observant consciousness. When a thing is unconscious, we cannot see it; we are not aware of its presence, just as we cannot see a thing that would be in a dark room. We cannot be aware of it because we do not see it; it is in the darkness of the subconscious, in the “Shadow.”
Carl Jung named the aspects we are not aware of or cannot see as Shadows. The Human Shadow contains aspects of people that are not exposed to the light of their consciousness. The Shadow Side of us generally contains things that we consider harmful because we deny, suppress, and reject features of ourselves that we feel are harmful.
One essential thing is that your Shadow side contains negative things and can also contain suppressed positive things!
Since we talk so much about vibrations, it is important to be aware of their numerical characteristics.
All thoughts, emotions, and feelings are energy beams
Which also have vibrational frequencies.
Moral suffering emits vibrations from 0.1 Hz — 2 Hz, fear between 0.2 Hz — 2.2 Hz, Irritation between 0.9 Hz — 3.8 Hz, indignation between 0.6 Hz — 1.9 Hz, irascibility 0.9 Hz, Anger — 1.4 Hz, arrogance — 0.8 Hz, neglect — 1.5 Hz, the feeling of superiority — 1.9 Hz.
Now that you understand the negative vibrational frequency of thoughts, emotions, and feelings, you can understand the importance of accessing the subconscious to transform the low energy load by bringing it to attention from a neutral perspective. Neutrality vibrates at a frequency of 250 Hz. So when we embrace love from the heart and not from the mind, we transform the energy charge to 500 Hz. This process is called Transmutation. It’s nothing magical, nothing woo woo. Everything is quantum physics.
If you live and feel positive feelings, the vibration is entirely different. Therefore, the effect of Shadow Work and the practice of love will place you in a state of harmony with the world around you. This way, you change your destiny and your family’s and that of every person you come in contact with, even with a simple glance.
Just as you can suppress negative aspects, such as jealousy, shame, and self-doubt, you can suppress positive aspects.
Let’s say you are born very self-confident; you know what you want, what you don’t want, and assertively express your points of view quickly. But, if you were born into a family that believes that expressing your truth firmly is “bold,” or “you always have something to comment on,” you probably were taught that you must learn to be silent, and to respect others older than you; because that’s how you earn in life, by bowing your head,” you will deny your intrinsic aspects to receive love, validation, and acceptance from your parents and family members. But look at the closed, good-natured, internalized, cute, and obedient adult; he is the child who was told to be silent and obey whenever he tried to express his true, self-confident self.
By integrating suppressed positive and negative aspects, you can regain the confidence and determination to create the life you want. Having the courage to express it, instead of remaining obedient to those around you, “humble,” only don’t bother.
Now, I will give you an example of how the negative exists in the shadow of your subconscious.
Suppose you were born into a family where you didn’t feel well, sometimes you felt misunderstood and wronged, and you became angry, nervous. When you became angry, you were punished and taught to be ashamed of that anger, but it still didn’t go away.
Fast-forward to your life as an adult. You have no awareness that you have anger in you. You can’t see yourself as curious because you rejected that aspect of childhood that was not accepted. When people say to you, throughout your life: “You are nervous/nervous!”, “I feel anger inside you!”, You will not be able to associate yourself with this statement at all; you will even reject it, feeling this is an unfair comment.
The suppressed anger from within you came out all this time aggressively, unconsciously, rattling the people around you, without you realizing it. The result of integrating anger is that one’s aggressive, passive behavior will cease to exist, and as an effect, relationships with others will be more harmonious and satisfying.
When we deny, suppress, and do not recognize, we do not assume a thing in us; it does not disappear; it only fades from our consciousness.
This is why you do so many things in life that you do not understand, the reason you feel that you lose control sometimes, that you cannot control yourself from manifesting certain behaviors.
Maybe you’ve been thinking so far, “We’re adults, we should be fine!” and at the same time, you find yourself in the same pattern, doing and experimenting, the same crap over and over again. It is normal! I understand you perfectly. Are you familiar with the statement “It’s like I’m spinning in a circle”?
Well, you just understood why. Thanks to your Shadow.
The importance of Shadow Work
One of the most important reasons why people reject Shadow Work / Shadow Integration, implicitly to understand and discover what is happening in this process, is because the term seems repulsive and because they have to face what they have suppressed, hidden, denied, rejected, and repressed. More precisely, they will have to deal with the pain they will feel, observe, discover when the consciousness (a.k.a. the soul) has been divided into pieces; the pain of losing an aspect of yourself.
The original imprint of rejection pain will come to the surface every time you work with your Shadow Integration. You may experience feelings such as immense sadness, a feeling of emptiness, loneliness, reunion after a long time (with you).
The most intense pain you can feel is the wound of rejection, abandonment, and loneliness. These feelings that you felt for the first time about the people who took care of you when you were a baby. It will activate the defense mechanism, “fight-flight-freeze-fawn” mode, that will make you feel literally like you will die or that you are in danger of death.
That’s why self-awareness is not such a simple process, as just one Shadow Work session is not enough.
Every person on earth who has gone through the process of relating (that is, all of humanity) has also gone through dividing his soul/consciousness, splitting into two parts, the conscious part and the subconscious part (suppressed).
Self-rejection gives rise to self-love (when you unconsciously hate yourself), and the emptiness you feel is the remembrance of those aspects that you have suppressed, denied, rejected, and renounced.
But still, the Universe is on your side, trying to help you become complete again.
Every process in the Universe, positive or negative, is heading towards evolution and expansion. So, the part of the divided soul seeks to become complete, presenting itself with every opportunity to show you what you have rejected, denied, and suppressed.
You will be assured at every opportunity of confronting your Self Shadow, so no matter how far you run or how well you think you can hide, your shadow will continue to pursue you… until you intend to end its integration process.
Shadow Work, or working with your shadow, is about becoming fully aware of everything unconscious, and this process is a very, very long one.
Unfortunately, Shadow Work is a bit controversial nowadays, especially in the Self Help community and because of a positive focus trend (#goodvibesonly).
Shadow Work is painful, indeed, but self-awareness and integration do not occur when you avoid pain. By becoming aware of your shadow, you will stop avoiding the pain and emptiness within you.
But it is also the key to living a life full of freedom and joy.
Shadow Work is often used in spiritual psychology to describe any process to make the subconscious conscious. The more aware you are of your shadow aspects, the more aware you are of being. No one has touched enlightenment without facing the darkness of the subconscious, his/her shadow exposing it to the light of consciousness.
Ultimately Shadow Work is the process by which you bring love, understanding, validation, embrace, and forgiveness to your unconscious aspects, without cataloging, analyzing, and judging them as good and evil, positive, negative, right or wrong, without victimizing yourself.
Whether you choose to do Shadow Work or not, this process is essential for the health of the whole being.
I hope this information will help you and inspire you to consider embracing the hidden parts of your subconscious. Your whole reality will thank you!
You can do all this by yourself in the comfort of your home with Retreat Sounds.
I have been there, done that, and have the battle scars to show for it. I am living proof that it can work… in the end. In my case, it was after a few good years and thousands of dollars on many kinds of therapies.
Tell me if it sounds familiar to you: You feel overwhelmed when you discover so many kinds of therapies and notice their price, and you think that maybe they will not work for you; you feel lost, and you feel like you’re spinning in a circle and you’re thinking, “Why does it work for others and not for me?”
PHEW! I feel you!
If you started this journey of searching for transformation or the desire for change, consider this: Everything happens at the right time; if you are here, now, and read this article, indeed many things will change for you, for good, I guarantee. Just stay focused!
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P.S. If you are serious about uncovering your shadow, I would strongly suggest that you resort to Retreat Sounds, choose meditations specially designed for the process of lovingly embracing everything that is hidden in your subconscious.
See you inside!
xx
