It Isn't What Happens To Us In

Jung First Gave Us The Term ‘shadow’ To Refer To Those Parts Of Our Personality That Have Been Rejected Out Of Fear, Ignorance, Shame, Or Lack Of Love. His Basic Notion Of The Shadow Was Simple: ‘the Shadow Is The Person You Would Rather Not Be.’ He Believed That Integrating The Shadow Would Have A Profound Impact, Enabling Us To Rediscover A Deeper Source Of Our Own Spiritual Life. ‘to Do This,’ Jung Said, ‘we Are Obliged To Struggle With Evil, Confront The Shadow, To Integrate The Devil. There Is No Other Choice.’

The Shadow Is Not A Problem To Be Solved Or An Enemy To Be Conquered, But A Fertile Field To Be Cultivated. When We Dig Our Hands Into Its Rich Soil We Will Discover The Potent Seeds Of The People We Most Desire To Be.

Pain Is A Spiritual Wake-up Call Showing You That There Are Oceans You Have Not Yet Explored. Step Beyond The World You Know. Reach For Heights That You Never Thought Possible. Go To Places You Have Deemed Off Limits. This Is The Time To Take Off The Shell Of Your Past And Step Into The Rich Possibilities Of Your Future. God Does Not Give Us Dreams That We Cannot Fulfill. If You Want To Do Something Great With Your Life-whether It's To Fall Madly In Love, Become A Teacher, Be A Great Parent-if You Aspire To Do Something Beyond What You Are Doing Now, This Is The Time To Begin. Trust Yourself.

As You Continue The Work Of Acknowledging And Claiming The Gifts Of Your Past And Standing In The Power Of Your Present, You Are Freeing Up Enormous Reserves Of Creative Energy.

In Trying To Express Only Those Aspects Of Ourselves That We Believe Will Guarantee Us The Acceptance Of Others, We Suppress Some Of Our Most Valuable And Interesting Features And Sentence Ourselves To A Life Of Reenacting The Same Outworn Scripts. Reclaiming The Parts Of Ourselves That We Have Relegated To The Shadow Is The Most Reliable Path To Actualizing All Of Our Human Potential. Once Befriended, Our Shadow Becomes A Divine Map That—when Properly Read And Followed—reconnects Us To The Life We Were Meant To Live And The People We Were Meant To Be.