Embracing the Shadow

What scares you? What is that makes you look over your shoulder? What is that keeps you from doing what you want to do with your life?

I call it the shadow. The shadow is the darkness that lurks just under the surface. It’s the part that makes us fret and regret. It’s the procrastination. It’s the maybe and the self doubt. It’s the thing that can make us stuck and bitter.

So why in the world do we want to embrace such negative feelings? Because sometimes we need to acknowledge and accept the dark parts of ourselves before we can move on.

When you’ve reach the dead stop at the end. Do you want to go out in painful whimper full of sorrow, anger and regret, or do you want to the one that slides in like its home plate, bruised, bloody, and saying what a ride. Do you envy the people that do that?  In other words they have lived hard, played hard, loved well and have few if any regrets?

Well, and then do it. Don’t just sit there eating that second brownie watching bad sitcoms. Get up and do something. Love something- starting with you.

Tell me, what lives in your shadow? What does your shadow say about you? OK, so this is the experiment. Look at it examine it. look at all sides of it. look into it. Take small steps if necessary. You don't have to live there, but in order to deal with it, you do have to embrace it.

Fortunately most of are not axe wheeling psycho-sociopaths with narcissistic tendencies, but lurking in the darkness maybe some anger, fear, lothing, jealousy and regret. Your're not plotting your coworder's demise, evan though he did something that made you mad. 

My point is you recogonize the anger, but you need a way to deal with so it doesn't consume you.

You need to embrace it because it is part of you. but that's not all you are, and anger if you let it, passes.

We will work on this more in the weeks to come. Take a deep breath. this too shall pass.
Namaste