A common misconception around shadow work is that the shadow is always the negative aspects of ourselves that we have rejected, denied, suppressed, or disowned. 🙅♀️
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But in fact the shadow is any part of our personality that is not standing in our conscious awareness.
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These shadows can have negative AND positive elements.
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It is just more often, we are more likely to repress the negative, than the positive.
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(Example: we would repress our greed more quickly than a gifted talent of ours).
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In a culture who, as a whole, struggles with shame and low self-esteem, social media can be a gift and a curse for the positive shadow.
Here’s an example of how this plays out:
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A young girl who is capable and confident around others is surrounded by a family who believes that little girls need to “work hard” “be obedient,” and she ALWAYS must get her school work checked over by mom and dad before it’s turned in.
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So, her inner sense of confidence and internal capability is rejected by her family.
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Over time, she also begins to reject those positive things in herself.
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She will deny the parts of herself that are confident and capable in order to get love.
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As an adult she will only feel loved when she is hard working, obedient, and asking for permission.
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She may feel pain in her life because she feels internally divided between who she truly is and who she believes she has to be to be loved.
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As an adult, she may come across someone that helps her discover and discern what feelings and beliefs are part of her unconscious.
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That person helps her activate the positive shadow and helps her discover that she is in fact confident and capable.
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When she consciously reclaims that part of herself, she regains the confidence she once had and feels entirely capable to create a life that feels good without asking for permission to do so.
Start to notice the people who inspire you on social media.
If their success, their confidence, their capability, their freedom makes you feel shame or low self esteem, they actually may be a blessing.
They may just be the spark needed to bring your positive shadows out of the dark so that you can shine!✨