Embracing My Shadow Self

Taking a trip can help you gain a different perspective on life. Give you an opportunity for new awareness to come in. When was the last time you took a trip? Did you learn something new about yourself? What was it?

My shadow

This picture was taken a few days ago at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. I love museums, especially this one, as art can disrupt our routine subconscious flow and give us some food for thought. This pic had me thinking more about my shadow self.

The shadow self represents the parts of us that we generally deem as “unacceptable” so we reject those parts of ourselves; yet they are inextricably tied to our thoughts, feelings and behaviors in our lives. Looking into our shadow self can be challenging and also quite rewarding because we start to see and start to accept all parts of ourselves, just not the good parts. Through the exploration of self, we can start to unpack the wholeness of self and begin practicing mindfulness and compassion toward self.

Thanks to the book I’m currently reading: "How to Be an Adult in Relationships” by David Richo, the two areas I’m currently working on are acceptance and allowing for myself. Codependents learn to abandon self in childhood and self abandonment can be automatic in adulthood. Seeing that we have this struggle, accepting it and allowing ourselves to explore our dreams and desires is our work on the road to recovery.