THE BENEFITS OF FACING YOUR SHADOWS
Over time, all of our ego’s tricks—repression, denial, suppression, escape—become less effective. And, what we’ve been hiding from begins to bubble to the surface. But, exploring our shadows gives us tremendous opportunity to grow and develop.
Let’s look at 7 benefits that result from shadow work:
Improved Relationships (Less Personal Conflict)
As you integrate your shadows and come to terms with your darker half, you see yourself more clearly. You become more grounded, human, and whole.
When you can accept your own darker parts, it is easier to accept the shadow in others. As a result, other people’s behavior won’t trigger you as easily. You’ll also have an easier time communicating with others. You may also notice an improvement in your relationships with your partner, family members, friends, and business associates.
Increased Confidence (Become Your Most Authentic-Self)
Many times, we look for external strategies for improving our confidence. Some of these strategies are effective…at first. But, if you're not working towards understanding the source of your issues, there's no internal change in your consciousness, meaning, there's no authentic progression occurring.
Lasting change occurs when we get to the root of our fears, accept them, and integrate them into your conscious personality. And this happens in the course of getting to know and integrating your shadows.
Develop Self-Knowledge/Clearer Perception
In seeing others and yourself as you are, you’ll have a cleaner lens with which to view the world. As you integrate your shadows, you’re approaching your authentic self, which gives you a more realistic assessment of who you are. When you’re self-aware, you can assess your environment more accurately. You’ll see others and evaluate situations with greater clarity, compassion, and understanding.
Enhanced Energy & Physical Health
Dragging around these invisible bags along our journeys is draining. It is exhausting work to continually repress and suppress all of the parts of ourselves that we don’t want to face in our adulthood. Fatigue and lethargy can plague the unexamined life, and mental suppression can also lead to physical pain and disease.
With shadow work, you free up an insane amount of energy you were unconsciously investing in protecting yourself. This can improve your physical, mental, and emotional health.
Shadow work can also bring you inner strength and a greater sense of balance, making you better equipped to take on life’s challenges.
Shadow Integration & Maturity
As long as we deny our shadows and repress certain parts of ourselves, living with a sense of wholeness and unity is unrealistic. How can we feel whole and balanced with a divided mind?
Integrating the shadow brings you one step closer to realizing your sense of wholeness and is a critical step to achieving mature adulthood.
Greater Creativity
One of the greatest benefits of shadow work is that it unlocks more of your creative potential. As we began to engage in various forms of creative self-expression, this only helps us to progress along our paths.
Dissolve Internal Resistance to Change
How many of our destructive habits are a result of us refusing to acknowledge our shadows?
“Resistance” is a term we use to describe internal tension. “Internal Tension” means that our conscious mind is at odds with various parts within our unconscious.
The purpose of shadow integration is to help bring these hidden parts to consciousness, and as we learn how to integrate these parts of ourselves, these internal tensions begin to dissolve on their own.
For more information on shadow work/integration and how you can apply it to your own life, contact us today.