Shadow Work
Shadow work can be difficult, but ignoring it can cause even more harm. You can’t just wish it away. A Pollyanna attitude won't help; it is a falsehood you tell yourself, while unconscious trauma still remains and influences you. This can lead to anxiety and feeling restricted.
Observing, recognising, and integrating the shadow are crucial steps in healing each part as it appears. Because of the shadow's many layers and its deep impact over a lifetime, this process takes considerable time.
The patterns and cycles are rooted in the past. The reality of our suffering and the healing that emerges from understanding it reside in our history. This is why it is essential to examine how these patterns have developed to regain our strength and reclaim our power from the trauma that has disempowered us. Discussing these issues with others before analysing the patterns can distract us, steering us away from the most profound truths.
While others may listen and provide supportive feedback, it is crucial for you—the individual experiencing the breakthrough—to acknowledge the trauma and trace it back to its source. This involves recognising where you may have prioritised someone else’s opinion over your feelings, thus sacrificing your truth for their approval. This pattern can lead to self-shaming for having these feelings, resulting in adherence to external guidance rather than your inner wisdom, which only exacerbates the trauma rather than facilitating genuine healing. Shadow work comprises many layers, and a vital component of its success is learning to listen to and honour your voice instead of silencing it.
We might have been conditioned to believe that expressing our pain or fears is wrong, as if it would attract more negativity. This is a misconception. Healing requires bringing what we hide into the light of our awareness. Suppressing feelings to please others only sustains our suffering and creates a false sense of peace, which ultimately harms our mental health. The fear of being heard can lead us to see vulnerability as a weakness, turning our pain into a weapon against ourselves. This can increase anxiety, trauma, and controlling beliefs that trap our body, mind, soul, and energy.
To genuinely heal trauma pain, we must acknowledge, feel, and talk about it. Healing starts when we become aware of our pain; once recognised and understood, we can manage it. This awareness helps us break free from the karmic cycle of oppression and the shadowboxing of a karmic existence, where we remain unaware of deeper patterns.
The shadow symbolises not a weakness but your greatest strength- the trait relied upon during tough situations. Sadly, it was often hidden due to shame and the fear of being used against you, which worsened feelings of disempowerment and disconnection. True healing can't happen while trauma shadows are concealed.
Our bodies carry our daily traumas and beliefs. We've learned to hide our true habits and avoid the efforts needed to heal our physical, mental, spiritual, and energetic selves. When our energy feels heavy and dense, it shows in our bodies. Our minds also become filled with beliefs, dogmas, and patterns shaped by past experiences, current circumstances, habits, and old conditioning.
This brings us to the quote: to change and heal, we must first recognise how we've compromised ourselves and continue habits that burden our bodies, minds, and spirits. The body is honest; only the hand nourishing it and the mouth communicating can deceive.
Many turn to various substances and behaviours—such as alcohol, drugs, pharmaceuticals, unhealthy food, cigarettes, extreme exercise, starvation, work, sex, pornography, gossip, moral superiority, judgment, religion, spirituality, new age beliefs, and other escapes- that sustain the oppression, suppression, and silencing of our voices, often in pursuit of a false sense of safety, which frequently costs us our freedom. This harmful path will inevitably show its true effects in our physical health.
We must acknowledge that language Easily distorts into any interpretation we accept. As AI advances, this manipulation of words grows even more. If words don't align with your truth, they become opinions shaped by authority figures, often ignoring personal experiences in favour of others' perspectives.
Several questions arise. How can we ensure our sacred texts are correctly understood? With many religions and beliefs, how can anyone know the authentic message? Is it merely tradition, or were you present to grasp its true meaning?
Is God an external entity to be honoured, or a unifying energy within us? These questions invite reflection on the origins of our teachings and their various interpretations.
I want to emphasise that we all possess an inner compass, consciousness, and morality. Yet many have lost trust in themselves, relying on others’ words. True healing involves listening to our inner guidance and becoming aware of our deepest truths, free from imposed beliefs. If these words reflect our core truth and we’re not simply seeking a saviour to do the inner work, we should follow that path.
While not everyone considers this the only route to enlightenment, we should focus on steering our journey instead of just following others for desired outcomes. It's crucial to invest time and effort into questioning our beliefs, seeking clarity, tuning into our inner self, and seeing if they align with our truth.
In alchemy, we live by the saying: "Take no man’s word." The path is one of self-discovery, where you are your own experiment and source of understanding.
Even respected healers face their own inner struggles and must confront what emerges. No one on Earth is a true guru, despite claims; the wisest understand that no one can fully grasp another's personal journey. It is shaped by numerous influences, and navigating this deeply personal process demands keen discernment. They can also be brought low by intense pain, whether internal or external, emphasising their interconnectedness. Various triggers can reawaken unhealed memories, emotions, and feelings.
There is no clear answer for why certain pains appear at unhelpful moments. Factors such as planetary influences, events, people, memories, or timing may play a part.
The complexity of shadow work can be difficult for those unfamiliar with their shadows or outside observers. Everyone has a shadow, and it cannot be avoided. Experienced therapists aware of their shadows demonstrate that shadow work is a lifelong process. Today, the importance of shadow work is greater than ever, as we peel away the masks and illusions we all wear.
The only path to freedom is through exploring the truth.
Delahrose
