Shadow Work for Self-Acceptance
This blog is from my weekly series ‘Shadow Confessions’ of anonymous disclosures revealing others' deepest secrets & hidden feelings.
Within this offering, you will see yourself in others, learn how to acknowledge your shadow & receive practical tips so your shadow no longer handicaps your potential.
“Struggling with feeling like I’m good enough as is, and I don’t need to mask/be what I think they want.”
Triggered Feeling:
Self-acceptance
Acknowledge Your Shadow:
Self-acceptance is not complacency. However, that might not be your belief around the word. If you find yourself struggling with accepting who you are, you might:
Experience self-loathing or self-hate
Take drastic attempts to avoid honest introspection
Deny/ignore your flaws because they make you uncomfortable
Get defensive when someone confronts/ criticizes you
When you do shadow work, you are doing the work of radical self-acceptance. By reclaiming the lost fragments of yourself and reintegrating them back into your life, you're able to move forward with your intentions, dreams, and goals.
Shadow Work for Beginners
Receive shadow work guidance from an expert and belong to a supportive community of women on the same healing journey now.
Steps to Integrate:
Answer the following questions in your journal to begin integrating your shadow:
What is your best flaw? How does this flaw improve your life or relationships?
What is your worst flaw? This can be physical or character related.
When you think of your worst flaw, what emotions arise for you? Write them all out.
Take a look at your list of emotions. What is your relationship with each emotion? For every emotion, write one positive interpretation of it.
For example, you might feel ashamed when you think of your worst flaw.
Ashamed = embarrassed or guilty because of one's actions, characteristics, or associations.
Positive interpretation: feeling ashamed reveals to me where I was once shamed before. It's painful because others projected their shadow onto me, making it my burden, and distorting the view I have of myself. Feeling ashamed no longer has to be my story because it never really was mine to begin with.
Until next week,
Jordan
