05-29-2013, 07:51 PM
first of all, how to define the psychological Shadow?
to me, it is just all those parts of the self that have not yet been accepted (ie rejected).
now commonly, the 'shadow work' involves working with the more negative type emotions (like anger, frustration, etc), and being able to understand the events or the origins of those type of reactions.
so there is a reclamation, or re-acknowledgement of parts of the self that were previously 'projected' and put onto others as a sort of emotional clothing.
but something I just realised recently was that the shadow can also include the more 'positive' type qualities that we fail to recognise or acknowledge.
someone who thinks they are physically ugly or unattractive, for eg, when in truth, they might be quite the looker. Or someone who has skills or abiliities but doesn't use them because they are unacknowledged. A form of denial of one of the qualities of self.
so yeah, positive things dwell in the 'shadow' too : d
- - * *
to me, it is just all those parts of the self that have not yet been accepted (ie rejected).
now commonly, the 'shadow work' involves working with the more negative type emotions (like anger, frustration, etc), and being able to understand the events or the origins of those type of reactions.
so there is a reclamation, or re-acknowledgement of parts of the self that were previously 'projected' and put onto others as a sort of emotional clothing.
but something I just realised recently was that the shadow can also include the more 'positive' type qualities that we fail to recognise or acknowledge.
someone who thinks they are physically ugly or unattractive, for eg, when in truth, they might be quite the looker. Or someone who has skills or abiliities but doesn't use them because they are unacknowledged. A form of denial of one of the qualities of self.
so yeah, positive things dwell in the 'shadow' too : d
- - * *
wikipedia Wrote:In Jungian psychology, the shadow or "shadow aspect" may refer to (1) the entirety of the unconscious, i.e., everything of which a person is not fully conscious, or (2) an unconscious aspect of the personality which the conscious ego does not recognize in itself.
Because one tends to reject or remain ignorant of the least desirable aspects of one's personality, the shadow is largely negative. There are, however, positive aspects which may also remain hidden in one's shadow (especially in people with low self-esteem).[1]
Contrary to a Freudian conceptualization of shadow, therefore, the Jungian shadow often refers to all that lies outside the light of consciousness, and may be positive or negative.