Shadow Sip 6 - The Golden Shadow

00:30

13:04

Shadow Sip 6 - The Golden Shadow

by Corin Bryant

Rated

5

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

4

In this video, I explain one rarely discussed element of shadow work: The 'Golden Shadow'. While we often associate the 'Shadow' with negative elements of ourselves or deeply unpleasant emotional and psychological material, it is just as important to recognize that much healthy and positive material can be hidden in the shadow also. One common way we do this is through admiring an 'impossible standard' set by another. It is possible we are unable to access some of the most powerful traits we have and are unaware that we are using this figure as a subconscious placeholder for that trait. In this session, I explain the technique for reclaiming that trait. This is based on Secular Mindfulness and the work of Carl Jung.

Active Imagination Strengths Spotting Practice Shadow Work Personal Development Intuition Self Integration Fear Mindfulness Carl Jung Intuition Development

Meet your Teacher

Exmouth, UK

Meet your Teacher

Exmouth, UK

Transcript

Hi team, Welcome to today's Shadow Sit. We've been doing a lot of the darker work. Uncovering buried emotions, Uncovering subconscious beliefs and assumptions, Taking a look at some of the things that we might not be acknowledging about ourselves, Things that we refuse to admit about ourselves, And digging through some of those old repressed buried memories that weren't fully processed at the time but now we're called to take a fresh look at things, We're called to come back into contact with this material, Now that you have the experience, Now that you have the resources, Things are different now. So we have a fresh workbench to bring all of dredge up this stuff from the past and now we can. Give it space to breathe, Give it space to process. This is really good work, Really healthy work, Really powerful work, But boy, Is it hard work. It ain't easy it really isn't this is why so many people put it off and many people even on the spiritual path of very realized people and very healed people still. Sometimes just don't even go near Shadow. It's remarkable. So this is beautiful work to do, Very healthy work, But very difficult, Very dark. So I congratulate you and commend you on doing this work. And I thought. . . I really do need to mention that it's not all dark with the shadow. There is this thing called the golden shadow. I thought we'd lighten things up a little bit, Maybe take a little bit of a break, A little bit of a breather from all this darker stuff by introducing this golden shadow practice and principle. I've got a really short little practice here that is really eye-opening, It's really powerful, And it can give you those, You know, The nice spiritual feelings that joy, Hope, Optimism, All that good stuff, You know, And even ambition in the relative world, Things like that, Some drive, Some determination, All of that good stuff that kind of gets shelved when we're doing the darker stuff, Doesn't it? Put on the later base. But we can actually do shadow work while still kind of working on personal development, Really. And that's where this practice with the golden shadow comes in. So, If you remember the video I did where we take somebody that we don't like, That bugs the hell out of us, That we've really. . . They rub us up the wrong way, And we recognize, Oh, They might have some traits about them that I'm refusing to see in myself, And that's why they irritate me so much. Well, There's also a very similar thing that we can do with the people that we admire. The people that we admire. But I'll say this, It's not just the people kind of in your close friendship circle, Possibly is, But there's a very particular. . . Flavour of person or character that this applies to. It's usually, If you do this now, So we're going to open this up to our intuition, Deep intuitive shadow work here. Just call to mind a person could be a real person from history or in the in the current landscape or a character from a film or a tv series or a book or something or a figure from history, Your spiritual teacher, Something like that. Somebody you hold in incredibly high regard. But for some reason. . . The thing that you admire the most about them. Feels a little bit out of reach So, It's as though you've raised this person up to be a heroic figure. Which we can really, You know, We can imagine it quite easily when it's a character in a film. I'll just be honest, Shall I, About the one that I, When I did this work, I don't know why it was, It was really interesting. It was Captain America. How interesting is that? And I wasn't expecting that. This is how you know you're onto something when you're sat down to do shadow work. And if you're ever wondering, Am I really doing this? Am I doing this effectively? If you get surprising answers, It's likely that they're true. Because if it's come out of the unconscious it's going to be a surprise If you get the answer you were expecting, It was conscious. You were conscious of it. But if it's a surprise, You know you're onto something. So when I sat down to do this work and was called to bring to mind somebody who I admire, I hold in very high regard, But at the same time I also think, But that's just not me, It was Captain America! That's just one example. Could be anyone for you. Could be somebody in your life, Somebody from history, Somebody from a book you're reading. Just a character. Maybe just take your favourite film. And that character what's that character there's something that you just admired about what they did or their behavior or their actions or their character whatever it is um could another like a secondary one for me was david goggins the motivational speaker i admire him so much i really hold him in high regard and yet i also feel but he's just in another league you know that's in fact that's a good way of looking at it that's the type of person they're just in another league They're in another category. They're just, I am not on that level. Like they, It's something that has put them at arm's length. Okay. So. . . Firstly, You envision that person or character is in the room with you. And Again, It's about finding the trait. What's the trait that you admire? Rather than admiring the person and the narrative that you have about them, What's the trait That aspect, What's the aspect of them that you're really admiring? You just love this about them. What is that? So for me, With me, What I found, Because this was really surprising, I thought I liked Captain America because he's because he's badass. He's got the shield and he can fight and everything. I thought it was that his athleticism. But when I did this work, I narrowed it down. It's actually what I was admiring is his competence. Whoa, And you get these jaw drop moments in Shadow Work. Oh, It's his, It's. . . All of that stuff with the shield and the uniform and his athleticism and his strength and stuff it's all a metaphor it's a symbol, For me it's a symbol of competence, He's demonstrating sheer adult mature competence not just that but the will to direct it in the right direction Wow, That's the thing I admire about him, With David Goggins, His determination. His motivation, His drive. And his commitment. And you realise it's not the person that you're really holding in high regard, That's a trait, That there is an aspect to them that you really admire. Now, Holding that trait in mind and imagining that this person is in the room with you. Visualise this and ask them. Why did I give you that to hold? And keep your intuition open for the response. Why are you holding that for me? Strange how intuitive this feels. Right? You'd think that's crazy. That's not going to work. No, Just try it and keep doing it. Why are you holding that for me? Why did I. . . Why did I give you that to hold? And see what they respond. And what they say will be one or two sentences. It'll be very clear, Very direct, And it'll be so obvious. You'll know why. And you'll go, Ooh. And sometimes there can be a bit. Golden shadow can actually be harder sometimes than doing the dark shadow stuff. Because you suddenly get a sinking feeling of rightness. I need to take this back on. I need to integrate this and that's going to take work. And risk. That's key. This is one of the reasons why we've given it to somebody else and then raised them up on a pedestal. Because if it's yours, If you're holding it. . . That's a lot of responsibility, Right? Because now you've got to execute. Now you gotta manifest. Now you gotta do it. Now you gotta do that thing. And uh. . . That's going to incur some risk and some sacrifice and it's going to be hard. But it's time to grow into this, It's time to mature into this and with that now. . . You've now are. It's like you've suddenly, You know those scenes in films where somebody remembers they have those powers? Oh, I have those powers! I remember my strength, I remember my abilities. Classic one in the hero's journey. Regaining. The skills, Talents, Abilities, The attributes. The trait. The aspect that you've given away. You know why? Because you were afraid. It's what I've found is so afraid. Because for me it's like, What if I try and be competent and I mess it up? What if I stick to my commitment and my discipline and I go in the wrong direction? What if I get it wrong? That's the barrier. That's what was preventing me from integrating this into myself. And so I gave it to Captain America and David Goggins and pushed them. Oh, They're on another level. They just got magic powers and genetics and something like that. I would do that too if I had what they had. Yeah, You see, This is golden shadow work right here. Bring them into the room with you. So why have I given that to you? And then you realise, Oh, It's because I. . . I didn't want to do that stuff. And you take it on. I mean, I don't mean literally. I'm not going to go try and grab a vibranium shield and go fight Hydra. That would be, If anything, That would be the easy way out. Real life isn't flashy and heroic, Is it? I wish it was, But real life is just day to day. Commitment and chop wood, Carry water, Just do the right thing. I can't have suddenly made this sound dark and boring again, Haven't I? Good grief! Hopefully you're getting the feeling of excitement from this. Because it's exciting, Really exciting, When you realise that character you love the most. . . It's you it's you and it was you all along The very fact that you admire them is proof that you have this trait yourself. That's one of the key things about golden shadow. It's not possible. It's not possible to admire something in somebody else unless you have the potential for it yourself. So hope some of that's useful and um Let me know how you get on with that one. That opens a door or two. That's it's just one sip for the day so take that on let it titrate Let it go through your system, Don't think about it, You don't have to go analysing anything. This one can be addictive to analyse, Don't analyse it, Just let it go. Let it come into the system, The system will take care of it, And things will be very different for you. Thank you for watching. Hope to see you in the next Shadow SIP. Take care. Be well. Stay present.