The light and shadow of human experience

We know we carry both. We’ve heard the stories of good versus evil, or the saying that we have an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. We are living in world with duality at its core, and the challenge then becomes about balance and awareness.

Understanding your shadow

Here are some ways in which you can start to work with your own shadow, without fear, or judgement, to understand the parts of you that have been rejected, ignored or repressed.The fear of doing shadow work tends to be far scarier than the actual shadow aspect itself. So if you wanted to do the work, here’s a few ideas to get you going:

• practice listening to the heart, not the head

• affirm you are ready to let go

• be honest, even if it makes you feel uncomfortable

• make decisions based on love not fear

• practice self-awareness

• find alternative perspectives

• choose to engage in activities that help you stay mindful

• create rituals that helps to anchor your presence and manifestations

• be aware of what you want to create, even more so than what you don’t want to create

Accessing alternative perspectives

Another key area to become more aware of is learning how to access alternative perspectives. It’s all about layering, so in addition to your current perspective you can feel into other layers of perception. This is a great practice to get into, to help you to understand the situation on a deeper level. Things to consider:

• How you view it now -make a note of how you see the situation as it stands now

• How you would view it from a birds eye perspective (seeing it from all angles). Maybe you can access it through another persons point of view or look beyond the what and into the why. Is there a bigger picture here?

• What your higher self or guardian angel would say - if you had access to divine guidance, what might you see differently about the situation?

What is your sticking glue…the things you just can’t shake off?!?

We all have one or more deeply rooted or anchored emotion that feels like it’s sticking to us. No matter what we do, we can’t seem to shake it off! What is that for you historically? Has it been:

• guilt

• regret

• anger

• sadness

• rejection

• betrayal

• shame

Or something else? Do you find yourself ruminating over it? This is a classic sign of the physical mind trying to make sense of a more complex emotion.

And whatever it is - if there were a magic lotion you could apply to make it slide right off, what would it be?

• Mindset - let them - Mel Robbins created a theory on this

• Energetic - visualise a bubble or light of protection and/or cleansing light to clear away what is no longer serving

• Belief - replacing a belief system that might not be in alignment with where you are now

• Physical - do some breathing exercises to calm the nervous system to stop emotions looping around the body, become more grounded and present

• Anchor - create an anchor point for you to come back to if the mind starts to ruminate, it might be a small action, word, mudra or mantra

• Nervous System - the Polyvagal Theory focuses on what is happening in the body and the nervous system, and explains how our sense of safety, danger or life threat can impact our behavior. It combines physiological and cognitive approaches to help change how we feel and think.