Why Shadow Work Is Powerful

Who Coined The Term Shadow?

Shadow work derived from the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung who
coined the term shadow to refer to the parts of the psyche that we are
unconscious
of.  Anything that is unconscious seemingly has more influence in
our lives than that we do consciously.
In this respect you can think of the patterns and agenda of the
unconscious like a robot in that they run automatically.  This is
good for essential bodily functions like breathing for example but not
great for psychological functions such as trying to accept old hurt or
trying to get your parent’s approval.  These will not stop no
matter how much time has passed.

Why Do Things Run Unconsciously?

For several reasons things run unconsciously, be it because you
experienced something that you were not able to process at the time or
be it just because in our society the external world is more
distracting and attractive than the internal world for most people.

If something is conscious to us we have out impartial awareness upon
it.  As we do this for longer periods of time such as in contemplation more and more
of what is taking place automatically becomes obvious to us.  Then
we can choose to change it.

Unfortunately we don’t seem to widely realise that what is within
affects what we experience without.

What Does This Have To Do With Shadow Work?

Shadow work is extremely powerful and changes things in your experience
of life quickly. 
What people notice when they do shadow work is inner peace and a
quietening of what some people call the inner critic or the
judge.  You experience less contraction away from other people,
less irritation and less wishing other people would change.

What this requires is self-reflection and higher consciousness of what
is taking place within your experience.  If there is something
about a person that irritates you or something that makes you feel they
are superior then what is
actually happening is you
are projecting onto this other
person something that you have not accepted about yourself.

What If The Other Person Really Is That Way?

There are a couple of ways of looking at this.  You could hold it
that these people are coming into your life and showing up as they do
because you have this unconscious, unaccepted trait.  Or you could
completely own that you create this person in your reality.  Or
you could accept that maybe this person is really like this but your
irritation is all your doing.

For example in an ideal world you would completely accept and love in a
compassionate way even the most despicable character.  Any trait
about
this despicable character that you have a body felt hatred or dislike
of is your shadow.

By this I mean that person does not automatically come pre-packaged
with these feelings that you experience.  They just are as they
are.  Whatever you feel or interpret this person to be is your
doing.  You won’t be doing this automatically as a thought out
process but it will be automatically occurring unconsciously. 
This
is your shadow self being projected
outwards and therefore holds huge clues to your self discovery,
personal and spiritual growth.

What is required is for you to look within your life and potential life
and completely accept that this trait is a reality or a possibility
within your life.  This is what we mean by healing the shadow.

To learn more about shadow work read about The Shadow Effect movie by Debbie
Ford.