If you are unaware that this incident created pain that you simply shoved down, but never looked at and healed, you may have issues of being too clingy in your relationships as an adult, and ultimately pushing potential mates away. Now, as an adult, you have an “unconscious program” of “abandonment” running in your shadow self subconscious. We tend to react quickly to situations based on previous fears, loss, or doubt, rather than slowly and carefully responding.įor example, perhaps you were accidentally left somewhere as a small child by your parents. This triggers knee-jerk “unconscious programming” reactions to challenges that arise in everyday life. When you choose to ignore your shadow side, and remain largely unaware of it, or unwilling to admit that it exists – The shadow gets darker, denser, and thicker. In other words, you become conscious of what you’ve previously shoved into your subconscious.Īs you use these journal prompts to illuminate your shadow self, your conscious self is made aware of vulnerabilities, fears, and unconscious habits that have been directed by the negative aspects of your shadow. When you do shadow work exercises, such as these shadow work journal prompts, the shadow is illuminated. When you ignore your shadow self, it holds power over you. Often, our shadow selves are born in early childhood as the result of trauma. We all carry a shadow side, these are the negative aspects and vulnerabilities of ourselves that we’d rather pretend don’t exist. Related Post: 5 Little-Known SHADOW WORK EXERCISES (from Spirit Guides!) What is the Importance of Shadow Work?

If you are new to “shadow work” or using “shadow work prompts”, here are the basics about what shadow work is, and why it is so important to do… I also have many tips for finding, meeting, and allowing your shadow self to come out in this post: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness Meditation. Meditation has also been incredibly beneficial in doing shadow work, and I personally practice this Ancient Meditation for Reaching Higher States of Consciousness to do so. I have found that healing these 2 lower chakras has helped me immensely in finding and integrating my shadow self, or aspects of my shadow side. If you are on a spiritual awakening journey, you will find much of your shadow will be held in your Root Chakra and Sacral Chakra. Self discovery is the ultimate goal of shadow work and shadow work prompts are an ideal way to get to the root of your shadow. Jung also said that, “Everyone carries a shadow,” and “The less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”

The phrase shadow self, coined by Carl Jung, stated the shadow to be “the unknown dark side of the personality.” One of the most important aspects of working on your personal growth, is finding and integrating your shadow self with shadow work prompts.

Shadow work journal questions