SHADOW...what a concept! It is all the stuff we don't know about ourselves.
The fact is, all of us have disowned parts of ourselves - and we've repressed them for many reasons, often because these attitudes or behaviors were unacceptable to our parents, teachers, the culture, etc.
In my family ANGER was absolutely forbidden...so it had to go underground, along with jealousy, greed, ambition, pride, gluttony (alas) and a host of other 'sins' of omission and comission.
But lots of wonderful fun stuff was also frowned upon...like dressing up cute, singing "worldly" songs, being wildly creative, showing off, dancing - and reading trash!
So shadow isn't all 'bad'. Although it often is.
But shadow also includes many aspects of one's strengths that have been difficult to own, such as special talents, self-confidence, courage, etc. So one's SHADOW is an unconscious storehouse of ENERGY and POTENTIAL...just dying to be seen and reclaimed.
Why on earth would I want to own my pride or my anger?? Or my silliness, or my urge to communicate? Because I'm human, that's why.
And if I don't realize that everything that is human is potentially in me... I will project my shadow stuff onto others, and hate it, or love it, or judge it in them.
Whew....BUT..the beauty of owning my shadow is that I become more and more WHOLE and less and less judgemental of others.
Here is a picture of a shadow aspect of me that I discovered recently. I struggle to integrate her into my self concept. She knows who she is, and is shamelessly showing off!
I call her 'TANGO CRONE
By the way, A great little book on shadow is OWNING YOUR SHADOW by Jungian analyst Robert Johnson.
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