Shadow Work: meaning and how to know you need to do it

Shadow Work

If you are new to spirituality, you may have never heard the term "shadow work." Honestly, many seasoned spiritual people have never heard of it. It is the most crucial part of your spiritual journey, but it can also be the most challenging part, which is why many people try to avoid it, but that gets you nowhere. So, here is Spiritual U's rundown on Shadow Work and how to know you need to do it.

What is Shadow Work?

Our shadows are the parts of us that we have suppressed. It might be general trauma like getting bullied in school. Or aspects of your personality, like being opinionated, emotional, or too feminine/masculine. Even your sexuality and gender can be suppressed and become your shadows. 

Shadow work is the process of becoming aware of the parts of you that still need to be seen. Many of us would rather not deal with our shadows, but it is the only way to move forward. 

Your pain, hidden self, and trauma are there and will stay there, holding you back until you deal with them. 

What does it mean to do Shadow work?

To do shadow work is to find those parts of you that you need to feel or see. This can be difficult because some of us are good at denial or pretending to be something we are not. You may not know the impact something has had on your life until you identify it. 

Once you find that pain or identify hidden parts of yourself, you have to sit with it. They want you to listen and need you to feel it. Only then can you begin the process of healing and go on to bigger and better things. 

How do you know you need to do shadow work?

Have you done shadow work before? How about recently? Are you human? Then you probably have some shadow work to do. There are so many signs that point to unidentified shadows.

• Toxic positivity is a big one. Toxic positivity is when you avoid everything "negative." Consistently reducing perceived negative events to be "no big deal." Invalidation of your feelings or the feelings of others. You don't cry when you need to. Instead, you distract yourself and try to make yourself feel good. 

• Burnout! We all reach a point of emotional burn out at some point. When we no longer have the capacity to pretend to be okay, happy, or functional. We can't muster up the drive to keep doing what "needs" doing, so we withdraw—sometimes feeling like empty, emotionless vessels. Many people have been struggling with burnout after the last 18 months. It has been a rollercoaster, and we all deserve some healing and self-care. 

• Emotional triggers are a huge sign that can point to the shadow you have. They can be very helpful when we need to identify shadows. But they can be challenging to deal with at the moment. We often want to avoid these triggers and move on. But the more awareness we have of them, the better we can understand ourselves and our shadows. If something can still cause a strong emotional reaction, you have identified a shadow. Emotional triggers tend to last a hot minute. That trigger may have you in your feelings for hours, days, or weeks. It is something that you lay awake at night thinking about. 

Things will always happen in life to create shadows. A pandemic is an example of that. Shadow work is an ongoing process. Once you learn to see the signs and you know how to work through them, you will never build up shadows again.

How do your shadows hold you back from your goals?

Many things can hold you back from receiving everything you desire. When there are shadows, they can hold you back in both action and manifestation. You can't just go from shadow work to manifesting. Or at least not for the best results. To learn more about the different phases to go through to get to optimal manifestation, check out my Four Pillars.

There are many symptoms and causes of shadows. Emotional trauma can cause you to internalize problems leading to self-sabotage and low self-esteem. They are all part of unhealed issues. These things can prevent us from getting what we want and accepting everything we deserve. 

For example: If you have had relationship trauma. You may want to find a partner, are currently going on dates, and attempt to manifest love. But if you’re underlining shadows say, "No! Must protect! Away with you, prospective lover!" Then you will not find a person to maintain lasting love and connection. Your whole self is not in on the mission of finding love. 

You end up fighting this inner war between your conscious and unconscious minds, and you get nowhere. 

Once you address this shadow, you can do the work to resolve it and find love. But in the meantime, you sit there wondering why you can find love. 

How do I do shadow work?

A great way to become more aware of your inner self is to meditate. You start becoming more aware of your shadows. In our distracting world, it is hard to connect to our true self, the spirit inside. We often identify ourselves with our egos. Through meditation, you begin to see that they are, in fact, two separate parts of you. But only one is the true self. Your shadows live in the ego-self. The ego stops you from living at your full potential. 

You can work with someone to help you identify those shadows. They can help guide you through processing and healing. Every person is different, and we all experience trauma differently. So, one method does not fit us all, and it is essential to find the method that feels right to you. 

For some people, a spiritual guide is what they need. For others, a psychologist or counselor might be a better fit. And for some, they may want both. There is no wrong answer because this is your journey. 

The important thing is to heal. So, you may open the doors to your full potential and manifest the abundance you deserve. The road is hard, and shadow work is tough to go through, especially without support. It is easier to avoid it and go about business as usual. But on the other side of it is a life of blessing. One that makes you want to get out of bed, happy and shining.

Check out my offerings page if you want to learn more about your shadows or discuss coaching with me. You can also book a call with me here to chat about how I can help you.