This topic is usually approached through a psychoanalytic lens. While that’s one useful method, I want to offer a different path, one that acknowledges the aforementioned intellectual, storied, and thought-based perspective while also focusing more on our sensing faculties to cultivate presence.

I hope this approach and these words benefit you.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will rule your life and you will call it fate.” -Carl Jung

Integrating the Shadow

We are both whole
and divisible into parts,
like a galaxy
of scattered stars.

There are parts of us
that we know,
parts we ignore,
and parts to which
we are totally blind.

The more of us
we can bring to light,
The more wholeness
we can experience.

When we sit in silence,
the unknown parts may suddenly
make themselves known.
Some will challenge us.
But whatever arises
does so for a reason:
it wants to be seen, fully.

Our ability to remain with the now
Determines the degree of self-love
we’re able to offer ourselves
and give to others.

This process is somewhat binary.
Either we love ourselves
Or we don’t.
And yet there are small steps
We can take toward
Wholeness.
The essence of shadow work
is becoming conscious
to these unloved parts of ourselves,
Facing them head-on,
owning them fully,
And integrating them into our being.

When we divide ourselves,
we can better understand the structure
like studying a small plot of land
before navigating the entire forest.
Once we understand a piece,
we can put the self back together
Now with a better understanding of the whole.

Witnessing a part
brings renewed and focused attention
to what was previously unseen,
Or thought to be known,
A skill that then
translates upon our return
to the whole.

The shadow arises from our inability
to sit with, express, or hold the truth.
The more we repress and resist,
The more the shadow darkens and grows.
It eats away at our light
and obscures who we are,
Like a thick cloud
covering up the moonlight.

The shadow wants to lay dormant
in the unconscious mind
like a wild bear in hibernation.
Once awakened,
pulled unwillingly from sleep,
wants to consume and drain
the conscious mind.
It chases us and
pulls us into its cavern.
And the faster we run,
The greater its appetite.

The goal is not to get rid of the shadow.
We need darkness
in order for light to exist.
One cannot exist without the other
Like a whole devoid of parts.
Instead, we must learn to embrace this part of us
in a healthy way
Then reintegrate it back into the whole.

We take what is monstrous
And bring it into our being,
taming it, and transforming it
into a new source of power.
We learn to work with it,
refining the gold from coal.

Shadow work is nothing special—
It’s a practice of self-love.
It’s understanding and embracing
all parts to become whole.
To accept all that arises
in each moment.

There is no need to proactively
examine the shadow
until it arises on its own.
When it does, you have the tools
To observe,
To see clearly,
To love.

When the shadow arises,
We might ask:
What is this part asking of me?
What is this moment asking of me?
Much of the time,
it only wants to be seen,
To be felt fully and embraced,
To be made whole
By your loving awareness.

~~

Inquiry:

Sensation-based approach:
– What is this moment asking of me?

Thought-based approach:
– Which part of myself do I repress?
– What does this part want from me?

~~

Thanks for reading. I often feel like we can overcomplicate these subjects due to the sheer amount of information that’s available to us at the click of a button. Hopefully, this sensing approach that I’m pointing to allows for an alternative, more direct path compared to the psychoanalytic approach. Embracing whatever arises at this moment, including the felt sense behind the thoughts, can return us to a place of wholeness where there was once felt division.

Of course, the more rational, intellectual, thought-based, storied approaches work well for some people in some moments, too, which is why I’ve included the above for you to explore. You’re your own guide so you know what is best for you.

Don’t overcomplicate it. Keep sensing, keep exploring, my friends.

Wishing you well today.

Love,
David