Today I want to talk about one of the common barriers to shadow work - Toxic Positivity. We are constantly under pressure from the “it could be worse” mentality, and suppress both conversation about, and expression of things that are perceived as negative.
Have you ever been told to:
“Just ignore it”?
“Stop being angry”?
“Look on the bright side”?
If so, you have experienced the toxic positivity that insists we pretend we are ok when we aren’t, and that we should dismiss valid, and important, feelings like our anger, sadness, or hurt in favor of putting on a mask of happiness.