Several years ago, when I resolved to devote myself to working with my shadow, I wondered how I would actually go about doing it. At the time, I didn’t know any good shadow-work methods. I knew with great conviction that this work was essential for me, and sensed that it would be beneficial to the world, but I had no idea how to begin.
What I found was that once I set my intention, shadow work pursued me! Opportunities for shadow work suddenly appeared around every corner. Here’s one example. I am a college professor. As soon as I made the resolution to pursue shadow work, my students started to approach me to tell me how uptight they thought I was. I’d been teaching a long time, but no one had ever said this before.
Imagine! Me! Uptight! Inwardly, a big part of my persona – the way I thought of myself – was as an old hippie. Easygoing, mellow, peaceful. Now these students were telling me I was the exact opposite of the way I imagined myself. I was uptight! Uptight people really bothered me! How could I be that? This was very hard to accept. There sat my self-image of cool, mellow hipness in direct conflict with the perception of others that I was anything but cool, mellow or hip! I was outed for having a quality I detested in others. I really had to wrestle with this. Who was I, after all?
I had to spend a long time in this uncomfortable place before I was able to accept and own my uptightness. And one result of the process is that I was no longer as triggered by people I considered to be uptight. I could empathize with them more, and feel compassion that, whatever was behind this quality in them, I also shared. In fact, I could now also be compassionate towards the “uptight” part of me!
It turns out I didn’t need to know any techniques of doing shadow work. Shadow work taught me to do shadow work. I was confronted with an abandoned, exiled part of myself. At first, I denied it. I wrestled with it. I sat in the discomfort of it. Finally, I gradually opened to the possibility that this was part of who I am. And you know what? It turns out that this is exactly how shadow work works! I’m grateful that the psyche is more intelligent than I am and led me exactly where I was meant to go.
And so, I’m calling out to people that are called to this work or are curious about this work. Let’s get together, share our experiences and methods, pool our resources, and support one another. One small step at a time, let’s heal the world by owning our whole selves. If you’re interested in joining me in this exploration, please send me a message.
Thank you for reading.
With respect,
Kevin Sachs
©2024 Kevin D. Sachs, all rights reserved.
Hi Kevin ... thanks for this post. I will be on the lookout for how my shadow is pursuing me.