Teresia's Blog

The Shadows know what evil lurks in all people: when people pretend to be better then they really are, they are likely to suddenly explode with rage after a trivial slight or act out in other ways.

This was the title of an article (on the formerly “squeaky – clean” Tiger Woods) in the Vancouver Sun on January 23rd, 2010. It states “Psychologically speaking, the Shadow is the part of our personality that we repress for the sake of maintaining our ideal of our self. And it is often the people who try most diligently to appear guiltless who have the nastiest shadows.”

In 2006, I attended Debbie Ford’s workshop “The Dark Side of the Light Chasers” and it changed my life. It was the beginning of not only continuing to embrace my strengths but to become aware and accept the parts of me that I was not so proud of and for many years had denied.

For most of my life, as well as the lives of many of my clients, the goal of perfection; striving to consistently live in a state of happiness and balance, dominates and controls our lives, a pursuit that proves unrealistic.

Striving to become better then we are and maintaining this image of perfection, can only lead to moments of stress, resentment, frustration, anger and extreme overt behaviour that not only harms our well being and happiness but has a huge negative impact on those we love.

Becoming aware of your shadow side, embracing it and learning how to manage it, is the path to inner fulfilment and self acceptance.

Here are some steps you can take to start uncovering your shadow side:

• Notice where you are reacting in your life.
• Where do you judge and blame others?
• Where do you not take full responsibility of what is not working in your life?

These are all clues of your shadow side.

Face it – we all have a shadow side, what we do with it impacts the quality of our life!

 

Check out Debbie Ford’s book -

 

The Dark Side of the Light Chasers: Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity, Brilliance, and Dreams

 

 and also visit her website to learn more about the work she does at http://debbieford.com.