Hey there! I hope you’ve been reading along about what shadow work entails, toxic positivity, and spiritual bypassing and how they manifest (and disrupt!) your life! I encourage you to meet your shadows, develop a relationship with them, and discover how our shadows can be one of our most important guides in life. Shadow work can be very challenging, and even painful, as we peel back the layers and begin to understand why we repressed or hid parts of ourselves. But shadow work can also reveal so much beauty, and gifts we didn’t realize we had.
For some, shadow work reveals hidden talents. Trauma and shame can repress our creativity and imagination, and bringing all things to light can be like pulling precious jewels out of the dirt. What genius, healing abilities, or artistic flair might you have and not even know about?
Shadow work can also give us beautiful gifts in the form of emotional intelligence, regulation, and expression. In shadow work we find our capacity to forgive. We find our deepest compassion. We open our minds to things we had been ignorant of or resistant to. We find a love for self or others that knows no limits. Our trauma alchemizes into strength.
In our shadow we can also reconnect with our wild side - that primal self we were before we were tamed by the constraints and expectations of the world. Who might you be outside of the captivity you unconsciously exist in?
When a veil exists between our light and dark selves, we can feel like a collection of broken pieces, never feeling whole or like we fit in. Yet through the transformation and evolution of shadow work, we can reform these pieces so they come together into a perfect form. Once we realize that we no longer have to ignore or get rid of these so-called “weaknesses” and “defects”, we realize through self-acceptance and love we can transform them into so much more.
Through this journey, I hope you find a path to fall completely in love with your humanly flawed, yet perfect, self.