#shadowworkchallenge

[shadow-work-journal]

🖤🌙✨

[moonsoulastrology]

Shadow Work Sunday is something I've decided to start to give you aid with your healing journey. You don't need to answer anything thru a comment, but the information I'll be sharing with you may be something you may want to save or write down to help you along. Shadow work isn't easy stuff. We're acknowledging hidden facets about ourselves that we've suppressed or stored away to deal with at another time. Whether this is consciously or subconsciously, these suppressed emotions play a huge role in our day to day lives. Peeling ourselves apart like an onion will no doubt make you confront things that happened throughout your life that need to be dealt with. Especially if you're looking to step into your true self and integrate your dark and light sides. Tapping into your psyche and facing the things you've been avoiding or suppressing is a personal journey I urge you to take, especially if you've been through some kind of trauma. Shadow work will help you transcend toward a path of self-discovery, self-restoration, self-empowerment, and healing. Getting yourself a notebook, diary, or journal is something you're gonna need for this, along with some time to yourself so you can focus and face the depths of the emotions.

This can be really beneficial if you either can't afford a therapist or don't feel comfortable talking with someone.

A self-exploration and healing path is a journey and an awakening! This isn't easy work, but it's necessary if you're trying to step into your true self and move forward in a healthy way. As Carl Jung stated, "When we avoid our shadow, it thrives in the shadows, capable of undermining and sabotaging our lives."

Whether this is suppressed or repressed, these things can deteriorate us from the inside out. Denying any of these emotions or traumas only preserves and eternalizes our suffering.

Courage and self-acceptance are needed here. As well as empathy and forgiveness to yourself. Please don't forget that. Jung was the father of shadow work. He coined the word himself, and thru working with archetypes, he was able to recognize that our shadow and our light were linked.

This journey involves;

1. Meeting your shadow.

2. Integrating your feminine and masculine energies.

3. Transcending your ego.

4. Emerging as your true self.

Creating a safe space and journaling will allow you to process those emotions that will trigger you and let you reflect back on this journey. Reflection to questions in your shadow journal is highly recommended and pertinent to fully integrating, transcending, and transforming. It's a great place to jot down any dreams that seem to trigger emotions within you. Again, I remind you to be kind to yourself, show yourself empathy, forgive yourself, and embrace your transformation.

Learning grounding techniques ahead of time will be helpful for this process. Breath work, sound baths, meditation, affirmations, and EFT( aka tapping) can all be powerful tools for this psychological process with extraordinary benefits!

Journal prompts to begin with:

1. Reflect on a positive childhood memory that makes you happy and brings a smile to your face. How did you feel during that moment? How can that happiness from that moment bring an influence into your current perspective?

2. Now imagine you as a child standing in front of the current you. What does your inner child need to hear to feel safe, loved, and valued?

3. Stepping into your inner child once again. How does it feel being provided those words and guidance? How can you create a sense of safety and comfort for your younger self?

#shadowworkchallenge

#shadowwork #Jung #InnerHealing #InnerStrengthJourney

#TaurusSoulAstrology

[abundancemindsetmama]

Shadow Work Journal Prompts

[amikismet]

Let’s start off getting to know our old friends Self-Sabotage and Resistance! These two especially like to hang around whenever we are trying to make a change in our lives. Worry not, this is natural because no matter what the change is, it is interpreted by our critter brains (the brain stem, which was the first part of the brain to develop and is responsible for keeping the body alive and comfortable) as a threat. When we are trying to make a change, no matter how big or small, you are asking your mind and body to do something different, which is uncomfortable. The critter brain does not have the ability to know that this change may be necessary (that’s what the rest of your brain is for) because its job is to keep the body in a state of balance, even if the balance it has gotten used to is unhealthy or actually harmful. That is why as soon as you make a decision with your higher brain (which has the capability to reason, use logic, plan for the future, and understand the consequences of your actions), the critter brain starts pulling out all the stops. Because of this, we all have developed a unique set of skills designed to fuck up the intentions we set today to have a better tomorrow. These all boil down to behavior patterns, or habits. Becoming aware of your specific behavior patterns gives you a one up on your critter brain. You can then replace the behavior patterns that are no longer serving your new life goals with behaviors that will serve them. But none of that can happen without AWARENESS. This prompt is designed to help you to gain that awareness. Take time and really think about this one. Keep in mind, you know yourself the better than anyone else (even if you don’t think so right now). #shadowwork #darkgoddess #journaling #shadowworkchallenge #day1 https://www.instagram.com/p/BnUWqGcld4Z/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1s4tgw3e369sa

[unmaskingthedivine]

14-Day Shadow Work Challenge

Day 1- Artistic Expression: How Do You See Yourself?

►Using an artistic medium of your choice, illustrate or create a visual representation of how you perceive yourself.  Don’t feel it necessary to base this solely on how you see yourself physically; let it be a collective interpretation of your feelings, qualities, flaws, and overall self-image. Be as abstract or literal as you like. 

Day 2- Introspection: What Don’t You Like About Yourself?

►Identify things about yourself that you don’t like or that you feel insecure about. Delve into the emotion that arises when considering these things. Ask yourself why you harbor these insecurities and where they stem from– are they based on societal standards, family conditioning, or religious compliance? 

Day 3- Artistic Expression: How Do You See The World?

►Using an artistic medium of your choice, illustrate or create a visual representation of how you perceive the world around you. How does the current state of the world feel to you? Tap into your feelings and let them take shape through this creative endeavor.  

Day 4- Introspection: What Bothers You About Others?

►Identify things about others (or the world in general) that get under your skin. External factors that trigger strong emotional reactions are great indicators of internal issues that need to be addressed. We tend to project onto others aspects of ourselves that are not readily acknowledged or accepted. Reflect on how  your personal state of being affects the way you see/judge others. 

Day 5- Artistic Expression: How Do You See Your Shadow?

►Using an artistic medium of your choice, illustrate or create a visual representation of how you perceive your Shadow.  What shape does your Shadow take? Meditate on it a few moments and see what comes to you. Bring attention to you subconscious and observe what it makes you feel.

Day 6- Introspection: What Do You Need to Work On?

►Identify what aspects of your self could be improved by discerning which areas of your life you find disconcerting. Take note of any seemingly reoccurring circumstances, such repeated relationship issues or persistent financial struggles. Areas of your life that are disharmonious tend to reflect an inner aspect of the self that needs work.

Day 7- Critical Analysis: Dissect an Unhealthy Habit

►Analyze a habit that serves as a distraction from yourself and/or impedes your well-being. Ask yourself when you developed this habit, what caused you to develop it, and how it affects your life.  When you get an urge to partake in this habit, take a moment to note what feelings you are experiencing. You can trace those feelings back and try to understand what inevitably caused them, many times this stems from a childhood experience. Go ahead and indulge in this habit as you normally would. Then ask yourself how partaking in it alleviates you and why you feel you cannot be alleviated through other means.

Day 8: Emotional Awareness: Observe Your Unadulterated Emotions

►Let your emotions flow freely today; don’t muffle them. Try to observe and understand them without judgment. Don’t escape, express. Don’t deny, accept. Be present with your emotions today. Try to abstain from any habits you may have that serve as a distraction from or suppressant of how you feel (including any addressed yesterday). Take note of the physical sensations that your emotions induce, like feeling as if the walls are closing in when you’re experiencing anxiety or feeling like your chest is being compressed when you’re experiencing sadness. Try to trace these emotions back as far as you can and recall the first experiences you had that evoked such emotions. 

Day 9- Journaling: Write a Short Story

►Write a short [creative] story based on some sort of dilemma you are currently experiencing.  This can be a fictional rendition of anything you’re going through– from a minor frustration, like having to deal with rude customers at work, to a life-changing ordeal, like experiencing a death in your family. Write a short story that parallels your experience. Try to write from an objective perspective and have some fun with it; incorporate fantastical creatures, horrific monsters, and bizarre heroes if you please. This exercise alone is a great creative outlet, but it also serves as an effective analytical exercise if you evaluate your story. By contemplating why you portrayed certain aspects the way you did, you may shed some light on your perspectives of the real-life situation and use the story to guide how to respond. 

Day 10- Artistic Expression: Illustrate Your Fears

►Using an artistic medium of your choice, illustrate your fears and how they make you feel.  Imagine yourself coming face to face with your most prominent fears. Depict the “face” of these fears as well as the emotions they conjure.

Day 11- Journaling: Map Out Your Dissatisfaction

►Write down any areas of dissatisfaction in your life. Try to map out what these discontenting circumstances stem from and what they branch out to. Reflect on how to resolve your dissatisfaction based on the “roots” that trigger it. Jot down your primary complaint then try to map it back to a deeper issue and so on. Likewise, map out how the primary complaint branches out and affects other aspects of your life. You should be able to unearth at least one core belief that the issues stem from. (An example of a common core belief: ��If I am not approved of, I will not be loved.”)

Day 12- Critical Analysis: Assess Your Core Beliefs 

►Analyze your fundamental beliefs. Ask yourself if these beliefs are reasonable and worth keeping or if your life would improve if you were to eliminate them. The previous exercise should have helped you come to know at least one of your core beliefs. Think about how these beliefs affect your life and what your life might be like if you were not to adhere to them. Ask yourself if you feel bound by them or if they influence you to do things that are out of alignment with your desires.

Day 13- Artistic Expression: Forge Your Shadow

►Create a poppet that represents your Shadow. While making it, project onto it all of the shadow aspects you have explored in the past twelve days, as well as any others. This will serve as a physical representation of your Shadow that you can work with in the future. It can be a simple poppet made with paper or whatever materials you prefer to work with, though I would suggest something fairly durable. Keeping your poppet to make alterations to as you progress is a nice practice; it serves as a marker of sorts for your personal evolution. For example, I might have a particular button sewn to mine that represents fear of commitment, but once I work through that shadow aspect, I could remove it or alter it in some way to represent me conquering that fear. 

Day 14- Meditation: Embrace Your Shadow

►Meditate with your shadow poppet. Visualize it being encompassed by white, healing light. Direct as much love and acceptance towards it as you can possibly muster.  This exercise is a preliminary step to accepting your Shadow. Having a physical representation can be helpful in doing shadow work that requires calling forth your Shadow for conscious interaction. 

Tip: Leave your poppet out somewhere you will see it regularly; don’t hide it away in a closet or drawer. In addition to being a tool to work with, it is also an invitation for your Shadow to reveal itself.

[lordmorzan]

14-Day Shadow Work Challenge [x]

Day 1- Artistic Expression: How Do You See Yourself?

►Using an artistic medium of your choice, illustrate or create a visual representation of how you perceive yourself. Don’t feel it necessary to base this solely on how you see yourself physically; let it be a collective interpretation of your feelings, qualities, flaws, and overall self-image. Be as abstract or literal as you like.

---

I’m not good at drawing. Well, sometimes. If I’m lucky. But I don’t want to, so I will write.

 She feels isolated from the world, because something keeps her from relating to many people. She feels surrounded by evil and stupidity, so she surrounds herself in things that have always made her happy. Yugioh, Pokemon, etc. She’s not much different than in middle school. She loves cats and mountains and storms and Egypt.  

She is drenched in blood and glitter. There is a strange contrast in the themes that dominant her thoughts and desires. Give her glitter and pink and zebra print and cats. Give her darkness and terror and heartbreak. I remember tumblr posts about do not romanticize depression, but I can’t help it. I get some sort of sick pleasure from it. Maybe it was my way of dealing with despair. There’s an Evanescence line that comes to mind: I want to stay in love with my sorrow, ohhh, but god, I want to let it go.

I’ve been pretty fine lately. More mentally stable than I have been because I’m not in school. So I’m surprised starting this shadow work business seems so important to Set. I hadn’t cried about Alex for over a year until the other day when I started telling Set the story about him. I don’t know what the point is to upset me about this all over again when I had finally stopped crying about him? I don’t know. But whatever.

She was once full of intense self loathing. So full of hate. She came so close to suicide. There was no point to anything. I know now I cannot do that because of my mom. But I’m much better now. So why exactly is doing this necessary...?

Michael Jackson saved my life. 

Back up and I will tell about middle school.

In middle school I went to a little tiny school where I was the second smartest kid. Of course. Of course I couldn’t be first. Never first. For 9th grade I moved to an Arkansas city and the school was much bigger there. I went from being brilliant to nothing special. It was horrible.

But anyway, in middle school I was so unchallenged by Oklahoma. It sucked. I was the weirdo asking for homework. I spent a lot of time at the library when nothing was going on in class. It made me angry when nothing was going on in class.

I was in quiz bowl, and a year ahead of me was this one guy Scott Jones who was on the quiz bowl team with me, and in band. We were friends. Until he found out I liked him. Then he called me a freak.

I was crushed.

My vengeance was simple enough. The band director asked me one day, “Hey Taylor, do you want to play the saxophone?” “Sure?” So I got handed a saxophone, fingering chart, and a box of reeds, and I go to the band room during study hall to work on learning it. Well, I’m the only one in there. I found the guy’s guitar for jazz band.

I untuned it.

HAHAHA. The director was so mad and addressed the whole band about it and never found out it was me. Beautiful.

This is a theme about guys though. They never like me. I did have a boyfriend once, but he got extremely annoying and I broke up with him on facebook messenger. XD Every other guy though? I’m not good enough for.

Same thing happened in elementary school. Suddenly I’m a freak for liking someone.

I think I’m digressing.

I am 22, but I see myself as a 14 year old obsessed with Yugioh. She is lonely and overwhelmed by life. Her friends all leave her eventually, and those that remain she cannot even be certain truly like her. She craves connection to divinity more than anything, but she is unworthy and inadequate. Instead of dreaming about deities like everyone else on tumblr, she dreams of random crap. She is weak and useless, and her only real talent is subpar writing. No literary agent wants her material, and she hasn’t been able to write lately anyway. She will always feel different than everyone else. She hates life and is terrified of it. 

Fortunately focusing on other stuff makes her forget.

As a scorpio she is obsessive. The current obsession is Yugioh. In case you haven’t noticed somehow.

She is trapped, and her escape is impossible, her horror only delayed by distractions. Fear ensnares her heart so easily.

[bebeauxyeuxbleus]

14-day-shadow-work-challenge

Day 7- Critical Analysis: Dissect an Unhealthy Habit

►Analyze a habit that serves as a distraction from yourself and/or impedes your well-being. Ask yourself when you developed this habit, what caused you to develop it, and how it affects your life. When you get an urge to partake in this habit, take a moment to note what feelings you are experiencing. You can trace those feelings back and try to understand what inevitably caused them, many times this stems from a childhood experience. Go ahead and indulge in this habit as you normally would. Then ask yourself how partaking in it alleviates you and why you feel you cannot be alleviated through other means.

Smoking - Mostly it just calms me down, at this point it’s addiction more than anything. When I turned 18 it was like a “Yay I’m 18 get it out of the way” kind of thing, and I really only smoked once every couple months. I was far from addicted. Then I had to break up with my fiance last year and I was smoking because I hurt so bad, and slowly it got worse.

Scab picking - I’ve done this forever, I don’t know why I started and I don’t know why I still do it, it’s a horrible habit and no matter how many times I try stopping it’s like it gets worse. Probably an anxiety thing. Nail biting - I can thankfully say I’ve been getting much better with this one and only do it once every few months now. It was a nerves thing probably. Now its more like I’m too lazy to go grab some nail clippers. Can’t bite acrylics tho :)

[unmaskingthedivine]

Let the challenge begin...

Okay, so apologies if this is difficult to read. You can see a text post with more detailed guidelines here; I just wanted to make a short and sweet photo post. 

I will do my best to promptly post my daily challenges for reference purposes if nothing else. I would love to see what any participants come up with, so if you feel comfortable with doing so, share your daily challenges and tag #shadowworkchallenge. 

[unmaskingthedivine]

Shadow Work Challenge 7.13.15

This map is pretty straight-forward I do believe. In tomorrow’s challenge, I will go into further depth concerning the core beliefs entailed.

See here for the 14-Day Shadow Work Challenge.

[unmaskingthedivine]

Shadow Work Challenge 7.5.15

Bleak, bastardized, and broken

Fermenting in the filth of our festering wounds

Writhing and withering in our own wrath

Groping blindly in the gaping abyss of greed

Haunted by hope and hindered by heredity

We all stand as one--

Naive, neurotic, and nostalgic

Clamoring for captivating chasms

Longing for the lost love of our ancestors

Searching endlessly for the salvation of sin

Maddened by the message of modern man

We all seek as one--

Tenacious, timeless, and transformative

Peddling peace and patronage abroad

Reaching out relentlessly for total reform

Joining together for inalienable justice and joy

Driven by divine determination and duress.

We all exist as one. 

-A.K. 2015

See here for the 14 Day Shadow Work Challenge.

[unmaskingthedivine]

Shadow Work Challenge: Update

The 14 Day Shadow Work Challenge I’ve been working on is coming along nicely. I should have it tweaked to my liking and posted by next Thursday or Friday. I’m pretty excited. It should be kind of fun (as fun as shadow work can be), being that I’ve included several art oriented exercises in it, but it will tackle a lot of basic issues that are good to start with. 

[blaqueflameblog]

Day 13- Artistic Expression: Forge Your Shadow   ►Create a poppet that represents your Shadow. While making it, project onto it all of the shadow aspects you have explored in the past twelve days, as well as any others.

“Be hole, be dust, be dream, be wind/Be night, be dark, be wish, be mind,/Now slip, now slide, now move unseen,/Above, beneath, betwixt, between.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

Hmm well, I am sure this isn’t quite “as expected” however, not being a poppet sort of girl, I thought I would share some photographic ‘self-portraits’ I did to “capture” my shadow. I did indeed, project my shadow aspects into each of these images and I keep them close to hand, along with “shadow” poems and so forth.

To me, these are “integrative” photos - something about self-acceptance and not needing to “pretty” things up - but also, to capture that a shadow is not always dark and dire - sometimes it shines brightly and is beautiful. I suppose the other thing I was hoping to capture in these is the ephemeral nature of shadow - how shadow selves are a little fluid, a little shifty - a little hard to have sit still so you can “see” them. Sometimes we need to court our shadow and woo it into being.

[blaqueflameblog]

Day 12- Critical Analysis: Assess Your Core Beliefs

►Analyze your fundamental beliefs. Ask yourself if these beliefs are reasonable and worth keeping or if your life would improve if you were to eliminate them.

Ahhhh this was so fun to make today- a story by gif...My beliefs ... they are tricky because they are evidenced beliefs - that is to say, I have had them put to the test  time and time again, and ya know ... it is what it is.

So what do I believe?

1. I believe people are flawed - they can sometimes be breathtakingly lovely - and they can also be bastard coated bastards with bastard filling. In fact, I think we can all be bastards - me too. I try not to be a bastard and I prefer other people who do the same.

2.I tend to be a realist. I lean toward assuming, not the worst exactly - but hmmm ... I am neutral. I expect nothing of people and I am no longer devastated when people are shitty.

3.  I believe the solution to this, to whatever degree, is to lower my expectations. I don’t expect people to be breathtakingly lovely {but when they are, man I am blown away and I love it}.

4. As per yesterday's post, I believe life would be a lot easier if I didn’t talk, if I could pretend to care about things I don’t care about, and not care so much about the things I genuinely do.

5. However, I can’t do that and I don’t want to. So I will carry on doing that thing that I do. Be me.

6. And at the end of the day, I believe that being just me, full stop, is a great weeding out tool. The people who are meant to be in my life stick around and they are AMAZING breathtakingly lovely people -- and the people who aren’t meant to be here, leave, generally pretty quickly - and I do hope the door doesn’t hit them on their ass on their way out of my life.

I’m okay with all these beliefs. They are tested by fire and they support me in being me.

[blaqueflameblog]

Day 6- Introspection: What Do You Need to Work On?

►Identify what aspects of your self could be improved by discerning which areas of your life you find disconcerting.

There’s always a million and one things I feel I could be working on. Some themes; over-thinking, disliking and backing away from “messy” emotions, feeling pushed to conform, I hate feeling “compartmentalized”; engaging in things that I feel lukewarm {at best} about, honoring my frailty and flaws, owning my power.

When I say “working on” I am not talking about “overcoming” these qualities or conundrums - more I am talking about integrating them and honoring them. Mostly, I have an overwhelming desire/need/want to be free. I want to be ALL of myself. So how about a poem about that...

Ode To Free Women

I'll smoke if it please me I'll swear with the best I'll wade bare feet in mud And fail every test I'll apply lipstick in public And drink wine to my fill I'll cum when I want And I'll leave when I will

 I'll say no thanks to sex When I'd rather be reading Say FUCK when I want to, To hell with good breeding I'll laugh long and loud When others are not, Swim free and wild And never be caught.

 I'll drive my car fast And not give over the wheel I'll say what moves me And I'll do as I feel I'll talk to whomever I'll love where I please Refuse to kiss ass Or get down on my knees.

 I'll not come to bed Just cuz' you're tired I'll write all damn night If I'm feeling inspired I'll blare moody music I'll dance all alone Go out for some milk And 'forget' to come home.

 I'll wear silk dresses To sit drenched in the rain And ditch on the wedding For a quick trip to Spain I'll buy shoes there, by the way, Yes I DO need another pair, And if you don't think so I'm sure I don't care.

If you call me a 'lady' I'll make you a liar It’s just not a label To which I aspire Call me a cunt, a bitch A witch or a whore For sure as sure, I CAN be And I've heard it before

You might think I'm joking I assure you I'm not I don't crave or want For things that you've got. Much more I'm pleased To be who and what I am And if you can't take it I don't give a damn.

I'm a free woman And a free woman I'll stay With or without you I like it that way.

- Me

[blaqueflameblog]

Day 15- Meditation: Embrace Your Shadow

►Meditate with your shadow poppet. Visualize it being encompassed by white, healing light. Direct as much love and acceptance towards it as you can possibly muster.

And so here we are, the final day of the Shadow work challenge. I want to thank  unmaskingthedivine for putting it together, it’s been a fabulous check in for me and my shadow :)  I also want to thank everyone else who has participated in this challenge. I salute your creativity, authenticity and bravery! Thanks everyone who left me comments - I’m so frustrated that I can’t find a way to respond/ or engage others in conversation - because everyone who has engaged with me has been ever so worthy of connection and communication. Again, big thanks!

As for the final aspect of this challenge, I decided to go with the brightest “shadow” image I have of my shadow’d self. I have to say I am not sure I accept the binary / duality /oppositional way shadow work and shadows are generally conceived of. As if we {in our unshadowed aspect} are “good cops” and our shadow {as something apart and distinct from “us”} are the “bad cops”. As though we {in our unshadowed aspect} are light, bright and “healthy” and our shadows are somehow less evolved, less healthy, less well ... bright. This lines up a bit with  Connie Zweig and Steve Wolf’s notion that     “Beneath the social mask we wear every day, we have a hidden shadow side: an impulsive, wounded, sad, or isolated part that we generally try to ignore.” I think it is just as possible to see our shadow selves as healthier versions of ourselves {from time to time}, less likely to conform or “sell out”  as  Clarissa Pinkola Estes suggests      “Compliance causes a shocking realization:To be ourselves causes us to be exiled by many others, and yet, to comply with what others want causes us to be exiled from ourselves.”

I‘ve done a lot of work with this idea - mostly through engaging in a sort of “discussion” with my shadow - I submitted a poem about this at some point through the challenge, but I’ve done a lot more of it than the one poem. It was very illuminating to hear/ consider how my shadow saw herself, how she saw me, and how she experienced the either / or split between us. Maybe I’m my shadow’s, shadow.

I like the idea of a shadow self being comprised of the collection of ‘choices not taken’ as per Thomas Moore, “The person we choose to be, … automatically creates a dark double — the person we choose not to be.”  I might take some exception to the word “dark” in this context, as it assumes that all the choices we don’t make are somehow lesser, darker choices - rather than just different choices. Certainly in the course of my shadow work there are many instances where the choices I have made were the darker choice, not the lighter - the choices based in compromise and conformity. I think my shadow would say I am plenty dark all on my own and not to dump all my shit onto her. I take that point to heart.

So anyway - me and my shadow love and accept each other, its something we “both” work on ... we send each other “white, healing” light, and acknowledge we both have strengths and weaknesses, we both could use a little compassion and caring, and neither of us are inherently better or worse than the other. Truth is, we are each other. That’s integration.