Introduction
Shadow work is the bridge that will help you get to your higher self. Believe me, it is the only thing you need to do consistently, and you’ll see the results from the very beginning!
I have always journaled the wrong way, which even led to a ick. I later understood what went wrong and started to journal correctly. The major difference was including shadow work. What is shadow work you may ask? here’s a detailed answer!
what is shadow work
It is literally what it implies to be. Working on a shadow. Whose shadow are we working on? Our own shadow! Think of it like this, all the trauma and repressed feelings you’ve carrying since forever, turned into a shadow and now follow you everywhere.
The shadow gets in your way constantly without you noticing. All the repressed emotions, that you carry in the form of a shadow, release a reaction every time they’re triggered. The reaction effects your growth continuously, tiring you and not letting you reach your higher self!
Most of the times, we ignore the triggers and the reactions and let ourselves continue the cycle we are in. Only when we try to understand our patterns and triggers is when real growth begins.
Patterns and triggers
The best way to understand the patterns and triggers is to journal consistently. Vent as much as you want. Any situation that made you relive your repressed emotions, any comment, anything. Later flip back to these entries and pinpoint the triggers.
Now we need to go deeper. Understanding the triggers isn’t everything. Questioning why you were triggered is.
Say for example, you’ve never been allowed to speak your opinions from a young age. Hence, you’ve been scared of being controlled, not taken seriously, etc. So, every time someone shuts down your opinion, even for a minute you get triggered and start acting aggressively, because you subconsciously fear being taken over.
In result, you put up a fight, without understanding the person first. In the moment you do understand that not being able to voice your opinion led you to react in a certain way. But then you need to question why? was it a certain incident from your childhood that affected you deeply? was it certain sentences said to you repeatedly that made you think your opinions doesn’t matter?
Pin down the reason, then go back to the past. Sit down with your younger self, ask them what needs to be done to feel different, or explain to them why feeling like this no longer matters. Explain to your younger self how you’ve changed, how the people around you have changed. And finally write down things that you will do now to consciously accept this change and what actions you’ll take to become better!
This is what shadow is!
What is shadow work (prompts)
In order to start shadow work as a beginner, it is better you use prompts that are already available. Sitting down and trying to journal your childhood repressed emotions isn’t easy on your own.
Once you become comfortable and get an idea of how to do things you can try free journalling your way through any repressed emotions you think you carry!
here are the ultimate shadow work prompts you’ll ever need! I went through a lot of prompts online, and these basically helped me as a beginner and covered most of the parts I didn’t even realize I needed to work on!
- Do I try to hide any parts of myself from others? why?
- what’s the worst way someone could describe me
- some memories you repress voluntarily?
- some parts of yourself you criticize harshly
- what do i judge others for that exists in me?
- what do ii need to forgive myself for?
- in what ways do I self-sabotage
- what are the repeating patterns in my life
- picture yourself comforting your younger self
Takke any of these and journal it for as long as you can, in the end write down what you need to tell yourself daily to get over these repressed emotions and what actions are you going to take in order to do so!
Conclusion
Remember to not be too harsh on yourself, you don’t have to shadow work daily, once in a while is okay. Try to deal with one thing at a time. And once you see yourself improving and becoming better without you having to take too many conscious actions, move ahead to the next!