EP 486: Seeing the Shadow

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” -CG Jung As we grow up, we construct our moral compass around how we see those whom we look up to interacting with the world. For instance, my awesome older cousin was cool and collected and moved with steady confidence. So the jittery energy I felt in my body, the opposite of the coolness my cousin embodied, was something to be expelled and avoided at all costs! And so for many years, this other side of me was kept in the dark… What Carl Jung called the shadow. For most of my life, this created a fate-like power over me in ways I describe in today’s episode: And it was only when I was able to integrate this unconscious shadow into my conscious mind that I could become the fullest and truest version of myself. (A version that is my absolute favorite version, by the way!) While many people turn to therapy to uncover this shadow within them, we can also uncover and integrate this shadow through the practice of mindfulness. With presence, acceptance, compassion, and curiosity, we can make the unconscious conscious and break free from what we believe to be our own fate. But just as therapy is done with a caring and trained professional who will ensure that the process is safe and beneficial, working with a teacher or a coach in your development of mindfulness is strongly encouraged. If you’d like to attend a no-cost, 45-minute coaching session with me to see if we’d be a good fit, you can schedule it here: https://calendly.com/artburns/45-min-coaching-session And if you’d like to support my work on the Showing up to Your Life program, here’s your link: https://www.patreon.com/artburns