Come to the dark side…we have cookies…
Could you imagine if Darth Vader said that?
Star Wars…completely ruined.
I mean ruined forever.
Earlier on we talked about little bit about going to the dark places in your life. “The pit” as I will reference it from here on out. That place where all of the not-so-fun-stuff lives.
Going to these places can be really difficult at times. It’s hard. It’s exhausting. But in spite of all of that it’s one of the most worthwhile adventures you can undertake.
Why you may ask?
Because going into the shadows allows you to uncover deep seeded painful experiences and events you truly haven’t come to terms with yet…
And those emotions you tend to avoid.
When go to the shadows with love and compassion and truly seek to understand the parts of you that may be in pain…you give yourself the opportunity to heal.
Seriously?
Yes!
And how amazing would that be?
How amazing would it be to finally heal the holes in your heart that have been eating at you whether you know it or not for years and years?
But how do you take this journey?
The best way to get to this place of shadows is by doing something you’ve already been learning how to do…
Putting yourself into a peaceful and safe state of meditation.
However, we are going into this state with a very different intention than normal.
We’re going to go to the places we’ve been neglecting.
We’re heading straight into the pit.
Now before we go there, I want to give you some more context and the skill were trying to develop. In fact, surprisingly, I have another analogy for you to work with.
I call this the “Frying Pan Of Life.”
When we do shadow work and if were going to use the analogy of a hot frying pan here, the aim is to get your hand close enough to the pan to where you can feel the heat but keep it just far enough away so you don’t burn the hell out of it.
And this really is a skill when you’re working with emotions.
You want to go into those painful places with compassion and understanding looking to feel the emotions and experience them, but not get so overwhelmed by them that you fall to pieces.
When you can find that balance of experiencing painful moments and yet being there with compassion and the intention to heal old wounds, miracles can happen.
But it takes time to get this right and you will find yourself falling in and out of this place often. You will feel emotions strongly…so don’t worry about crying or even bawling your eyes out.
You’re safe…and trust me, you’re not doing it wrong.
Keep working at it.
Keep going back to those places looking to forgive others and forgive yourself.
There’s really no telling you what will exactly happen when you consistently do this exercise but I do know that major pains and worries will release from you over time. That in of itself is what makes the entire journey worthwhile.
The secondary benefit is that you truly get to unravel your past which allows you to get into the present moment.
Action Steps For Today
Action Steps For TOday
Intention: To take a deep dive into the shadows with the intention of healing old wounds
Practice: Shadow Work
In the evening, find a quiet place and time to be by yourself and dedicate 20 minutes to entering into a state of meditation. However, instead of working on simply focusing on our breath, we want to pick one event in our life that has effected us negatively and go back to that place.
Now it doesn’t have to be the most intense thing you can think of…just something that you are comfortable with (at this point in time) exploring. Go back to this time and place and make contact with your emotions while continuing to be aware to not get so close that you get completely overwhelmed. You may cry, get angry, or get emotional. That’s all fine. But stay with this time and event and bring your understanding, compassion, and healing to the moment. See how much you can learn. See how much you can forgive. See how much you can let go.
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