The shadow self is part of your personality that people don’t like to admit that they have. It is the unconscious side of someone that is dark and that we often have to work to recognize.
Even though the shadow side is sometimes considered something bad, that is not always true. This is the thing in your life that makes you to feel weak and that you like to keep hidden so that people don’t know this about you.
Your shadow side can cause you to have low self-esteem, but the great thing is that it can also help you to deal with things such as:
- Anger
- Jealousy
- Sensitivity
- Sadness
- Laziness
- Independence
Getting Rid of the Shadow Self
You cannot get rid of your shadow self no matter how you try. Everyone has this part of them and even if someone is very nice, they can still have a shadow side.
You cannot heal your shadow self because it is not broken but what you can do is to learn to accept the gifts that your shadow self-offers you and learn to embrace what it is trying to show you.
Carl Jung
Carl Jung made the idea of the shadow self-popular. He talked about how people have this natural shadow self and that this is the dark side that we have. He mentioned that we need to be able to embrace this side of our life so that we can really live.
Jung didn’t believe that people only had a shadow, but he believed that there are groups of people that have a collective shadow and that they are the ones that deal with things in society such as racism or other things.
Knowing Your Shadow
People can see their shadow side if they look deep. If you feel that it is okay to be jealous or angry then this is part of your shadow self and instead of allowing these emotions to get out of control, you need to be in control of them and set boundaries in your life.
You can learn to not be stuck in your emotions and when you know the shadow part of your life, you can learn to make your relationships better and you can learn to accept people and to understand them better.
If you are not creative and you are struggling, knowing what your shadow self says can help you to accomplish more things and help you to know more things about yourself. It can also help you to face things that are hard in your life.
Shadow Projection
When you look at the psychological projection, it means that you have unconscious thoughts or feelings that are not always acceptable to other people.
Maybe you find people around you annoying or selfish and you feel that you are different than them. You find that you might have problems too such as being lazy or self-centered and so your shadow self is the same as theirs.
A collective shadow can be examined through people such as the Nazis that killed the Jews or when someone calls a Muslim a terrorist because of how terrorism affected some in the group.
Knowing Your Shadow
You can find out your shadow by getting therapy. Some people ignore their shadow for so long that they are hiding it and cannot figure out what it is.
Once you know your shadow, you can journal, and you can use your dreams to direct you. If you are always blaming people for what is going on around the world, there is a chance that you have not let your shadow come out.
Learn to know your shadow self even if you don’t identify with it.
Shadow Work
You can get help with your shadow by getting therapy such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy. This can be short term therapy that is called shadow work.
This can help you to learn about who you are and what actions you need to take to fix your mind, body, and soul and to live a happy and fulfilled life.
