Gain Phenomenal Clarity from The Shadow Self in 3 Steps

As humans, we experience a myriad of energies (read: emotions) that flow through us at every moment of the day. However, darker emotions like rage, fear, anger and anxiety are generally suppressed.

It’s ok to have a dark day. To embrace the darkness and honor the fact that you aren’t shooting rainbows out of your heart chakra is absolutely normal. You’ve surely heard someone say, “She’s almost too nice...it’s creepy.” because people who don’t express anything but sunshine simply don’t feel authentic to others.

To be spiritual does not mean you need to be happy all the time. To be spiritual is to feel the full range of your emotions and to work with them. Denying what you feel tells your mind that your feelings are not only invalid, that they are unaccepted because of their darkness.

Emotion = energy in motion. When you suppress an emotion, you stop the flowing energy of it and trap it in your body. In the spiritual community, you hear so much about “love and light” but it is in the darkness that the most crucial transformation happens.

We can’t ignore the shadow. We have to be in relationship to it because without it we can’t understand what love is and what love isn’t. Learning to work with your emotions can be done, but it takes extreme mindfulness and practice.

1. Express Empathy Towards Yourself
   First and most importantly, be gentle with yourself. You’re not going to do any good by judging the fact that you’re feeling down or enraged or anxious. By being radically present and understanding that you are feeling something for a reason, you live outside of judgement. Resist the urge to travel back in time, when triggered, to an event that is blasting you into the darkness. Time Travel is not constructive here–presence is.


2. Give Voice to Your Emotion
   This does not mean act out in rage or scream and yell at people when you’re angry, but rather to experience it as it comes up. To say, “ok, this is what I’m feeling and this is why and that’s ok.” Observe, listen, feel. When you judge yourself for feeling something, you rob your soul of validity. Accept the emotion and give it space for expression.


3. Physically Move the Energy
   Now that you’ve accepted what you’re feeling, you’ve got to move the energy around and help to release it from the confines of your physical form. This can be done in any number of ways that suit you best including stretching on the floor, writing, ecstatic dancing, going for a walk, doing a breathing exercise, running, drawing or painting. Stagnant energy cultivates blockages which can turn into physical ailments. Move your body!

When we are cloaked in the darkness of our souls, we are absolutely authentic. There is no denying or lying or sugarcoating anything because everything sucks in that moment–and that’s ok. Phenomenal clarity is born of darkness and true fundamental transformation of the self takes place here. Allowing the darkness to work its magic is when you create magic and return to the light.

The poetic ebb and flow of life ensures that we experience both the crippling depths of darkness and the elation of the light frequently. Without this ebb and flow, we would not appreciate our emotions or the lessons learned from fully experiencing them without judgement.

Love, light and infinite darkness!