FACE YOUR FEARS AND WOUNDS

NIGHTMARES AND SYMBOLS

I have been having nightmares for a long time and I woke up to another one today. I always see someone is chasing after me, trying to get me and kill me. I don't stop and ask him in my dream, I wonder what's the reason they keep coming but I never think of stopping and asking them.

Our dreams consist of reflections from our real, daily life; things we don't want to see and things we refuse to see... Even though I imagine myself dying in my daily life, my nightmares were scaring me. Maybe the killer was a reflection of my depression and my concerns. Maybe it had something to tell me, maybe I dropped something to the floor and it was running behind me to give me what I lost, what I didn't even know I lost and maybe it's my shadow, my darker part that I've been avoiding for years.

SHADOW SELF

That lead me to search what our darker parts are called and I found a term for that! It was my shadow that followed me everywhere I go, no matter how hard I try to run from it, it was always there to follow me. There is a type of psychoanalysis in Jungian psychology; our shadow selves are the parts we pushed down to the unconscious at some point in our life, parts that we're insecure and ashamed of. Parts we don't want to see because of the fear they might not be welcomed, accepted, and loved by people and society. Our personality is just like the moon; we have darker and lighter parts. The most important thing is to welcome it and love it as it is Shadow self is triggered by someone else's actions and words.

SHADOW WORK

Shadow work is a practice to love ourselves with both darker and lighter parts. "Shadow work is the process of working with our shadow selves to eradicate their negative effects in our lives and to integrate the separate parts of ourselves into one whole". It isn't as scary as it sounds and also it isn't as easy as it seems. Meeting with your shadow self includes facing your past trauma, your darker thoughts, negative emotions and feelings. We need to face our shadow self to live in harmony and to make peace within ourselves. It is necessary to meet our darker sides in a healthy way before it shows up in an unhealthy, uncontrollable way in our relationships. These unhealthy ways consist of negative inner dialogue, anger, toxic body image.

SHADOW WORK METHODS

1. EXPLORE THE SHADOW:

Explore your shadow by doing meditation, sit with your thoughts and watch them while they are freely floating in your head. Try to understand them, look behind the reasons why they exist. Don't try to push them because they don't feel like "the real, good you". Journal your thoughts and experiences with yourself so you can look back and reflect later. Look deeper into your dreams and listen to what they might have to tell you for yourself. Don't be scared to feel, feel the anger, feel the jealousy, feel the sadness but look for the things that make you feel this way. Don't let these emotions get you by.

2. IDENTIFY YOUR SHADOW:

Listen to your inner dialogues and inner voice. What does it tell you? Does it tell you that you're worthless, unlovable, lazy, flawed? Does your inner voice ask you why you can never act normal around people? What does make your inner voice think that way? Which experience in your life shaped that inner voice?

3. USE OTHERS AS YOUR MIRROR:

What bothers in other people? Do they talk a lot? Do they not give you the love you deserve so that you feel worthless? Do they always anger? Things that bother you in other people are the things your shadow self is hiding. If you think your friend cannot control their anger and always leaving people feeling sad, anger is something that you associated as "bad" and you tried to push that feeling down because it wouldn't resonate with your "good" personality.

My dream was telling me to face my depression and my negative emotions. It had something to tell me but I always ran away from it and never gave it a chance to speak. Let your shadow speak and solve the complexity of your life.