Get to Know Yourself

Do you aspire to be your best self?

Do you want to know how things you suppress affect the way you are?

Do you desire a deeper understanding of yourself?

Shadow work can help you with that.

Shadow work is a psychologically based activity created by Carl Jung. It is used to unveil ones id. Your id is your unconscious mind that works to satisfy basic urges, needs, and desires, an idea introduced by Sigmund Freud. Jung refers to your id as your shadow. Now that you have that brief psychology background let's talk about why shadow work is worthwhile.

A lot of the emotions and feelings we suppress have a lot of power of us. We use shadow work in hopes to expose our id and gain control of ourselves. Have you ever felt like you weren't yourself? Or maybe you did something you never thought you could do? It was probably a time your id had taken authority of you, without you even knowing. Doing shadow work allows you be your best self.

Don't get me wrong, you are probably pretty awesome already. Shadow work is not meant to bring you down. Instead to make you stronger, more self-aware, and to raise your vibration.

Benefits to shadow work are things like: gaining the ability to confront your shadow, furthering your journey in self-actualization, strengthening intuition, increasing comfort with yourself, understanding your role in relationships, feeling more empowered, lifting weight from your shoulders and much more.

Don't be scared. Go get some paper and a pen so you can start your shadow work journey with one of the 5 questions listed below.

5 Shadow Work Questions to Ask Yourself

1. In what situations do you hesitate to speak your truth? Why?

Is their anyone that you feel you can not be yourself around? Are there places that make you feel like you may never be accepted? Are there situations where you are afraid to speak up for yourself? If any of these are a yes, then why do you feel that way? Is it worth it to mask your true self?

Understanding this question can help you understand parts of your life where you feel restrained. Or it can help you open your eyes to toxic relationships and environments. It may even help you reveal some of your insecurities or inabilities to open up to others. Use your answer from this question to teach yourself how you can be more free.

2. Do you feel comfortable being alone? Does it signify independence or loneliness?

Let's put the idea of an introvert and an extrovert aside for this question. Whether you get energy from staying home or seeing your friends isn't what this question is asking. It's asking if you feel comfortable with yourself? Do you feel "alone" or are you grateful to spend time with yourself? Do you cherish that time to learn about yourself and be at peace?

In the end you will always have yourself, learn to embrace that fact. The more time you have creating a bond with yourself, the stronger and more independent you become. You will be able to listen to your body and take care of yourself properly. You will be able to comfort yourself and increase confidence. How can you take steps to strengthen self-love and understanding?

3. How do you communicate your feelings to others? Is it effective and clear?

A lot of people have trouble communicating to others. Do you find yourself holding back in situations? Can you only scream when you are angry or cry your way through words when you're sad? Are you often levelheaded or does your head feel muddled when you have to tell others how you feel? In what ways can you improve communication?

This is a question to help you understand how you may be affecting relationships with others and sabotaging yourself. People always say communication is key; that's true but sometimes people don't know how to communicate. Learning to understand the way you communicate helps you in interacting with others. It can also help conversations run smoothly and fix any communication barriers.

4. Are you too comfortable? Do you push your limits enough?

Do you like to stay comfortable? Do you have a consistent routine, watch the same movies, eat the same foods etc? Do you ever make yourself uncomfortable? Do you take cold showers or say yes to something you're hesitant about every once in a while?

It is healthy to test ourselves. Challenging ourselves is the way that we grow as people. Even if you need to take baby steps. You can try a new food that looks weird to you or you can shave your head. Whatever feels right, just try something new. This will allow you to grow and tack on experiences to inspire yourself and others.

5. In what ways do you neglect your feelings, wants, needs or self?

Do you always take care of your physical health? Your mental health? Your emotional or spiritual health? Do you indulge every once in a while? Do you have a self-care routine you perform regularly? Do you put yourself as the first priority?

Take a minute to think about how you treat yourself and consider how you could treat yourself better. Sometimes, we don't put ourselves first which can really hurt us. If you don't eat well for a prolonged period you may start to feel unhealthy. If you don't brush your teeth you might have bad breath. If you don't take advantages of opportunities to have fun you may be unhappy and inexperienced. How can you take care of yourself better?

'Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.’ - Carl Jung