Over the last three weeks I listened to a class online sponsored by the Jung Platform. It was a class called Aging in a Soulful Way, presented by Connie Zweig. She reminded me of what Jung calls the shadow.
The shadow isn’t anything dark or bad. It is simply unseen. It is our personal unconscious…the storehouse of our beliefs, attitudes, fears, images and stories. We develop our personal unconscious beginning in childhood and we continue right up to today. This storehouse affects how we feel and how we bring ourselves to life.
Shadow work is pausing long enough to recognize what’s in the storehouse…and then deciding if it’s worth keeping, if it is still useful. When we become aware, we can make a choice to change, tell ourselves a different story, release an old, worn out idea, come into greater ease and acceptance of our self.
Shadow work is easy enough to begin. Be curious about your own self. Ask yourself questions about a reaction you had, a hurt you feel, a fear you have. Is it true? Where did it come from? Is it time to let it go?
If you are brave enough to do some shadow work I am confident the result will be freedom. That’s enough of an incentive for me!
Much love
Paula
