Shadow Work Habit

[BlessedLion]

Do any of you guys have a shadow work practice that you do regularly? 

I am trying to get myself to start but it's so unappealing, to journal and go into my negative emotions everyday, and somehow fit that into meditation, study, work, and excercise . Looking for any tips or practices that anyone does who have found benefit from it. 

 

Thanks

[NoSelfSelf]

With that kind of attitude dont do it,dont disrespect the work.

[Princess Arabia]

9 minutes ago, NoSelfSelf said:

With that kind of attitude dont do it,dont disrespect the work.

Great point. That's why I do stuff i enjoy and what comes naturally, I don't want to make this into a chore. It's like listening to your fav music because you want to, not because someone tells you you're not whole and complete unless you do. I practice every chance I get in my daily life, so it becomes a part of me and it doesn't feel like I'm trying to achieve anything; only to become familiar with the presence I already am.

Some things takes extra effort, yes, but it's still not a chore.

Edited August 19 by Princess Arabia

[NoSelfSelf]

4 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

Great point. That's why I do stuff i enjoy and what comes naturally, I don't want to make this into a chore. It's like listening to your fav music because you want to, not because someone tells you you're not whole and complete unless you do. I practice every chance I get in my daily life, so it becomes a part of me and it doesn't feel like I'm trying to achieve anything; only to become familiar with the presence I already am.

Some things takes extra effort, yes, but it's still not a chore.

Doing it because you see the value 👌 we now gonna sit here and prove to you(topic starter)what you should be doing and opening your eyes? its lazy and it wont work since the beggining you are not inward driven.

Edited August 19 by NoSelfSelf

[ICURBlessings]

46 minutes ago, BlessedLion said:

Do any of you guys have a shadow work practice that you do regularly? 

I am trying to get myself to start but it's so unappealing, to journal and go into my negative emotions everyday, and somehow fit that into meditation, study, work, and excercise . Looking for any tips or practices that anyone does who have found benefit from it. 

 

Thanks

Maybe the word 'work' in Shadow-Work could be replace with something more appropriate for you.

I think the word 'work' is from the concept of having to dig deep and to overcome our natural resistance to become aware of our dark-side.

Do you already have some kind of awareness of your 'shadow' or 'dark-side'? 

 

[BlessedLion]

@NoSelfSelf @Princess Arabia

 

Feels like a pretty judgmental and superior attitude you're both taking. I'm sure everything just flows perfectly in your practices and you never hit a patch of resistance. 

 

I think starting any practice from scratch, even meditation, has it's points of resistance. When I started meditating, it was difficult, now it's the best part of my day. So maybe chill out a bit and provide input that is actually valuable rather than just criticism, baseless assumptions, insulting me and pumping up your own egos. 

 

It's clearly something I want to do and am interested in, just having difficulty with, hence why I am asking if anyone has tips or ways it works best for them. 

 

Maybe this is the wrong place to be vulnerable and ask for help. 

[Ulax]

@BlessedLion Hey dude,

I do IFS work weekly with a therapist.

[Keryo Koffa]

@Ulax How many personalities did y'all manifest yet?

[Ulax]

@Keryo Koffa ?

You mean how many parts have i met?

[BlessedLion]

40 minutes ago, Ulax said:

@BlessedLion Hey dude,

I do IFS work weekly with a therapist.

I've heard that's a good one, watched some videos on it but haven't gone deep yet. Thank you for helpful feedback with actual substance. 

Have you find it to be powerful?

[Ulax]

1 minute ago, BlessedLion said:

I've heard that's a good one, watched some videos on it but haven't gone deep yet. Thank you for helpful feedback with actual substance. 

Have you find it to be powerful?

@BlessedLion I haven't had powerful results i'm aware of as yet. However, have had some separate issues in therapy which I think have been the issue.

And yeah sorry some of the  responses, on this thread, have been less than helpful.

Also, one thing I think is important when working with an IFS practioner is the following. In the initial consultation, really work out how the practioner incorporates IFS in their work. Do they mix it in with a bunch of other techniques? Or is IFS what they entirely focus on? Been a personal sticking point for me in the past.

[Davino]

@BlessedLion I would say life itself. Particularly interactions with others.

Pay real attention at how you behave in the presence of others and become aware every time you wrongfully do others. One can also learn from its shadows by knowing what others criticise of ourselves or in the best case asking for high quality feedback.

If one becomes aware of such behaviours and catches it at the moment, this is more than enough for breaking the shadow patterns and integrating it into the full light of our conscious experience.

This is my shadow work habit, maybe you find value in it. That's my humble share.

[Lyubov]

I don’t use the label shadow. I use the label the inner child. 

I use an entirely different model and a journaling method for this called “the golden thread”  that actually works and actually returns you to oneness and to a flow with everything balanced and in harmony. 

Check this channel out

[NoSelfSelf]

@BlessedLion We are giving you help, your fragile ego cant handle it since only sees the downside of what we speak.Clearly you dont see that me saying dont do it is telling you to drop that attitude and you are giving it resistence.Your post want us to advertise you shadow work if you cant do it to yourself nobody will...

[Princess Arabia]

12 hours ago, BlessedLion said:

@NoSelfSelf @Princess Arabia

 

Feels like a pretty judgmental and superior attitude you're both taking. I'm sure everything just flows perfectly in your practices and you never hit a patch of resistance. 

 

I think starting any practice from scratch, even meditation, has it's points of resistance. When I started meditating, it was difficult, now it's the best part of my day. So maybe chill out a bit and provide input that is actually valuable rather than just criticism, baseless assumptions, insulting me and pumping up your own egos. 

 

It's clearly something I want to do and am interested in, just having difficulty with, hence why I am asking if anyone has tips or ways it works best for them. 

 

Maybe this is the wrong place to be vulnerable and ask for help. 

Idk about anybody else's comment , but I suggest you read mine again because nowhere in my comment I insulted you, was judgemental, or had a superior attitude, nor did I criticize you. All I stated was how I did my practices. 

 

13 hours ago, Princess Arabia said:

Great point. That's why I do stuff i enjoy and what comes naturally, I don't want to make this into a chore. It's like listening to your fav music because you want to, not because someone tells you you're not whole and complete unless you do. I practice every chance I get in my daily life, so it becomes a part of me and it doesn't feel like I'm trying to achieve anything; only to become familiar with the presence I already am.

Some things takes extra effort, yes, but it's still not a chore.

This was my comment.  How was this saying all you said. I admit I didn't tell you how to do your shadow work; but your reply to me was a bit harsh nonetheless. I apologize if you took offense by me just saying what I do and how I do my practices. I was a bit taken aback by your remarks as I didn't think I was rude to you on any level. Noself was a bit abrubt in his remark, but that wasn't coming from me.

Edited August 20 by Princess Arabia

[Nivsch]

Maybe try to start with the thing that is right under your nose:

1. What do you feel that makes you want to do the shadow work?

2. What will you feel if you won't do shadow work?

3. Are you good enough already even without doing any shadow work at all?

4. If not, what is missing?

5. What is the "you" that you want to improve?

6. Can you accept him more and give him more love right now?

7. Can you make a complex conversation with him right now?

8. Say there isn't any "exercise" to shadow work at all, and you now have to find your own original exercise from scratch. What it will be?

Edited August 20 by Nivsch

[NoSelfSelf]

49 minutes ago, Princess Arabia said:

 Noself was a bit abrubt in his remark, but that wasn't coming from me.

This never happened 😏

[Sincerity]

Shadow work can be fun and exciting. Try active imagination. I recommend the book Inner Work by Robert A. Johnson.

The beautiful diversity and complexity of mind is truly amazing. And having a lot of powerful visions is one of the things I love most about my life. With active imagination you too can tap into symbolic visions revealing hidden aspects of yourself.

Or just analyze your dreams (same book recommendation). It's like solving mysteries, you CAN see the fun in that. It makes your life meaningful to you (because the meaning is there, you just have to discover it).

"A dream which is not interpreted is like a letter which is not read." Same applies to active imagination visions. Or even daily reoccurring visions for that matter.

Be the adventurer you are meant to be. 

Edited August 20 by Sincerity

[UnbornTao]

Stay on topic.

Heard Shadow Dance is a good book for that.

[Rafael Thundercat]

22 hours ago, BlessedLion said:

Do any of you guys have a shadow work practice that you do regularly? 

I am trying to get myself to start but it's so unappealing, to journal and go into my negative emotions everyday, and somehow fit that into meditation, study, work, and excercise . Looking for any tips or practices that anyone does who have found benefit from it. 

 

Thanks

Ayahuasca is a great way to dive deep into the shadows. Although some people drink it and enter in state of "only love" and "only light" . Very soon if the person keep going deep he or she will be confronted with their devils hidden in the caves of their unconscious. By devils I mean all the behaviors,beliefs and projections that one use to point out to others and dont want to recongize that he or she have inside himself like greed,lust,pervesion,hate,prejudices,boredoom and much more. Also will help to see the inner child, the inner femenine or masculine and all the stuff talked about by Carl Jung. Of course if the person dont want or is not open to explore this aspects,no medicine or any other work will be suficient. Belive that the game of denial can even be played inside Ayahuasca circles. And of course in the middle of some works one can touch some points that goes beyond therapy. Points like realizing you are creating all as a dream, since Ayahuasca is drank at night and leads one to enter awake in the dreamland. So sometimes I get myself Lucid dreaming realizing the boundaries of wake life and dream life are constructs.

But back to Shadow. Yes, it is a way to go. I also opened a Thread Called ShadowWork somewhere here.