BE A BETTER HOLISTIC LEADER BY EMBRACING
YOUR SHADOW SELF
Embracing Your Shadow Self
Article by John Scardina
Photo Credit: Angel Quintana
Magazine: Issue #23
We all have two sides, for it is in our nature. One side (the good side) is filled with joy, hope, love, peace, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The other side (the bad side) is filled with anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, gilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. We as humans in nature have these two sides. The balance of both of these sides is totally dependent of how well we know and embrace your shadow self.
Our ego tells us that not to dwell upon our darker shadow side as normal functioning humans, but how quick do we turn to anger and resentment when someone hurts us. If we experience failure we quickly become overwhelmed with fear, confusion and guilt. These are the events that occur to often and during these events we feel the vulnerability until our minds almost always suppress these matters until they are forgotten.
This cycle of emotions never gets displayed completely and gets stored within your shadow self, destined to resurface in the form of negativity allowing a channel for this negativity to appear over and over again.
In order for us to be of sound mind and body our consciousness needs to confront our shadow self. You can start by making mental notes of negative feelings, which leads to contraction of energy in your body. Once you understand the root of the feeling, what you want to do with it will be at your decision on your terms. You might want to convert it into something positive to be at peace and rise above a deep seated negativity.
Once you have acknowledged the existence of anger and vulnerability to yourself, you will figure out a conscious solution to deal with it. It will no longer have the power to unconsciously rule over you. Your shadow self will become your friend which will help overcome the thoughts that bring you down. This process in human nature as told by Native Americans is a battle between “Two Wolves” where a constant battle of conscious and sub conscious exists inside of us.
Introducing yourself to your shadow self, understanding and embracing it can be the only way win this battle between the two wolves, as only one wolf can win this battle “The one you feed the most will most certainly win”. Understanding your shadow self can help you to win the battle for your good side.
