There are many ways to approach shadow work but first you must understand what it is. Very simply put, shadow work is intentionally looking internlly in order to breath through hidden memories that keep you blocked from the sunlight of the spirit.
What shadow work is not is a replacement for therapy, or any mental health professional help you are seeking. If you are actively using drugs or alcohol it is best for you to wait until you have a certain level of sobriety before diving into this practice.
One must be ready to look at and breath through perceived difficult memories. I am going to provide you with 2 keys to unlock this process.
The first key is how to know when you have found a particularily troubling memory that is keeping you stuck in a holding pattern. The emotional response to this troubling memory is called a trigger. I will provide a very personal example so that it can be clarified quite easiy within yourself.
My experience. When I was a child I was told often that I was ugly. Ridicule, cruel bullying, pictures passed around and all different types of belittling names to varying degrees were a part of my daily experience. I began to feel like that was a truth of myself. My name is Amy. I am 5'2", eyes of blue, golden blond hair and ugly! I grew acostumed to this treatment and by the time I was 13 I wanted to exit my human experience.
Luckily my angels had other plans for me but those deep wounds became a lifelong struggle to overcome; ie. my triggers, my responsablilty, my life.
It took years of my adult life to walk through and to unravel the effects of that early abuse. Low self esteem, trauma and a very basic lack of knowing how to care for myself were part of my learning process. Navigating through the world as a young adult was an enormous challange. I had no idea who I was or how to get there. Fortunatley I was blessed with a strong faith in God at an early age. God was often my only source of help and strength.
Now, fast forward, to turning 50 this month those same triggers do not effect me. If someone has something negative to say about me I will add a few more adjectives to their vocabulary for future reference! I have developed holy indefference to the outward opinions of others. I have learned how to keep my focus and my mind on my path in life regardless of what is thrown at me.
It was not a simple process to get to this point but the actual process is simple. It takes a lot of conscious work to move past old stories, hurts, scars and bruses that were brought on by others and life. Some religions will call it your karma to work though and some philosophies will try to explain why you are the way that you are but both situations do not help the here and now. Here and now is where there is freedom.
The second key is the practice of staying in the here and now. This is the secret to releasing the triggers instead of reacting to them. The key is simply breathing. Through breathing I am able to slowly remember those memories and release the pain while breathing into them. It is not a perfect science and there is not a hidden agenda to the breathing. It is simply to just breath, look, listen and release. This is the most profound way to move forward in you life.
I have found that the result of this excersize is a deeper appreciation for self and an ability to be an active co-creator in my life with the God of my understanding. This time of year many of us love because we are allowed to explore the darker nature of ourselves. The darker nature is creative at its core. It only feels spooky when we have not taken the time to clean out those old cobwebs internally.
Take time now to do your shadow work. Take time to breathe into the memories that create triggers in your daily life. Take time to realease all that does not serve your life in the highest form of light and love for thyself and for others. In doing this one will see that the drive to complete and be better than others dissolves into wanting true communicaton with others because we are all on this path together just trying to do our best. Creation will surely follow when working with the sunlight of the spirit utilizing shadow work as a way to realease in order to receive.