A Simple Exercise To Do Shadow Work

In this talk, I'll guide you through an exercise to identify your shadow. We will be identifying an emotion that you have about someone externally, digging deeper into it if necessary to get to the root essence of the emotion, then re-writing the statement using "I" instead of "the other person" and then reflecting on the "I" statement. Then, as you become aware of the shadow, it neutralises the emotion or trigger, as the emotion serves simply as a messenger of that which you are not aware of yet within yourself.

Transcript

Hi,

So in this talk,

I'll walk you through a simple exercise that you can do to uncover those parts of you that you haven't been aware of before,

Which is the shadow work.

So we'll go through a simple exercise that I have found useful for myself and let me know,

Try it out and let me know how it goes for you as well,

Thanks.

So shadow work is one of the most important aspects of a journey into self.

How many times have you felt a certain emotion about something that someone else is doing?

How many times have you seen another person blame all of their stuff on other people?

Shadow work is looking at your triggers and then pointing the finger back at yourself.

How easily can you see the truth about yourself?

So we are going to use those triggers and turn the finger back to yourself with no judgment,

Simply with the aim to become aware.

So in this exercise,

Pinpoint something that bothers you about the way other people are or a specific person.

Try it with anything that irritates you or aggravates you,

Something.

When you tune into the present moment immediately,

What is that unpleasant emotion that comes up?

What is at the front of your mind right now?

Something like an unpleasant emotion that comes up as you tune into yourself,

Just like irritation or maybe anger or sadness or anything at all.

You can even do this exercise with positive emotions too,

But for the moment,

I will be using the negative ones to focus on in this exercise.

It's not about your opinion,

Oh,

I like this or this I am not okay with.

It's really about the emotion.

It's not about looking at the world and being like,

Okay,

I don't like that,

I don't like that.

It might be your opinion,

But it's not really emotion.

We're really looking for a strong emotion,

Just like I said,

Irritation or anything like that,

Anger,

Upset,

Anything,

Something that you're like,

Oh,

I can't stand.

It's about pinpointing those occasions where you really have that emotion and then write it down.

Write a statement down about that emotion.

For example,

I can't stand when people lie and you can pause this if you want and write it down and then as you have written it down,

Identify the cause of that emotion,

Which is that people lie.

So first you describe the emotion and then you identify the cause of that emotion in that statement,

Which is people lie.

Really pay attention to the truth of that emotion.

If it's something that is not as straightforward as in the example that I gave about people lying,

You might have to dig deeper into it if it's not straightforward,

And I'll get to that in a moment.

If the emotion is about something less general,

Not like people lie,

But it's more specific,

There are more details,

It's more complicated,

There is more to it than just which you can see at the face value,

You know.

So it might be like a specific event,

So that's the moment when you dig into it,

You ask questions and you really get to the root cause of what exactly is the emotion about.

If it's not clear to you,

The root essence of that specific emotion,

You need to reflect more on it.

And I'll give you an example now.

So if the situation about which you are feeling in a certain way was that,

For example,

Your neighbor had parked their car in your driveway,

You write down something like,

Oh,

I hate that my neighbor parks his car in our driveway,

For example.

And then you can ask yourself,

What does this mean for me symbolically?

And try to narrow it down as much as you can to get to the bottom of it.

For example,

You might feel disrespected in this case,

Or maybe it's about boundaries,

Or maybe it's something about neighborly relations.

It can be many things.

It can be,

For example,

Oh,

I really don't like the fact that this neighbor thinks that we have this kind of relationship.

And then you might say,

Oh,

I don't like that he's unaware.

Like really ask those questions,

What is it about?

Go as far as you need to get to the bottom of it.

It is important that it is clear to you,

What is it for you and how do you see it?

Why is this bothering you exactly?

Go to the root.

Is this really about the car or is there something about the person,

For example,

That is irritating you?

So,

Then as you have narrowed it down to what exactly it is,

As you have that core statement,

If you will,

Either it is as simple and straightforward as people lie with no further digging into it,

Or people violate my boundaries,

Or people are not aware of the type of relationship that we have after you have done some digging,

Now rewrite the same sentence or same statement.

Only replace the other person or people with you.

So you would write,

Instead of people lie,

You would write I lie,

Or instead of people violate my boundaries,

You would write I violate my boundaries.

Don't think about it or worry about how it is true or reflect on it immediately,

Or like hesitate,

Oh,

Should I write this down or not?

Just do it.

Write it in that format at first,

And then after you have written it down,

Only then start asking yourself,

Where is it that I lie or do this thing?

For example,

If we're using the lying example,

Or how do I violate my boundaries?

How fast can you get to that response?

Is it clear to you immediately?

Does the truth come to you easily?

How do you feel about acknowledging it?

If an answer doesn't come to you straight away,

Try tweaking around the first statement where you were talking about what caused those emotions.

So when you are looking at the external reality and the world.

Remember,

Like when I spoke about getting to the bottom of it?

Try using different words and really tune into the truth of you that can be felt in your body to make it as clear to you as it's needed.

Try being really honest with yourself about the situation.

Really dissect the situation until it feels satisfactory to you if necessary.

And speak about how you see it.

Don't think about how it might seem on the outside.

Really try to be authentic in your expression when you describe that same statement,

Because that is how you are going to become aware and uncover that shadow.

Authenticity and truthfulness is really key here because without it,

It won't work.

It won't work if you use a generic statement.

You really need to use the words that you feel the most,

That are most aligned to you.

You know the truth.

You just need to be brave and accept it without judgment and recognize that we're all here in the same boat.

You might have to sit with it a bit to tune into it and be in that honest space with yourself.

That is what we call shadow work.

So once you have identified the statement,

If it's not really clear to you,

The emotion,

The root cause of that emotion,

You either tweak it or you ask more questions like,

Why is that?

Why is it bothering me?

Why is that?

Why is that?

Until you get to the end and you really have a clear description of the root cause of the emotion.

And then you rewrite that root cause to be the same statement.

For example,

People lie.

Now you change it simply by changing the people to I.

So then you write,

I lie.

And once you have written statements,

That statement in that form,

You can ask yourself,

Where am I being that?

So first we have identified a trigger,

An emotion.

Then we have rewritten the statements in the form that it applies to yourself.

And then it's about you asking,

Where am I doing that?

And trying to see that,

Trying to become aware of that.

Because the moment when you do that,

You become aware of how this shadow,

How is it playing out in your own life,

By your own actions or things that you do or whatever.

And then the emotion that you had about the other person who was reflecting that shadow back to you,

It dissipates.

Let me know,

How did it work for you?

I would love to hear what has been your experience with this.

Let's talk about it.

Are you able to get completely honest with yourself?

How comfortable are you with the truth?

Are you having any trouble defining the emotion and getting in touch with that space?

Let me know.

I would love to connect with you.

So yeah,

Try it,

See if it works for you and let me know how this goes.

You can message me on here privately or leave a comment on this talk or whatever works for you.

Thanks for listening.

Have a good rest of your morning,

Day or evening,

Wherever you are and whenever you're listening to this.

I'm Claudia Truschele,

Also going by the name SpiritHeartSoul,

And I am a spiritual guide for people who are looking to connect more fully with their true essence.

Thank you.

Thanks for listening.

Bye!

Reviews

Thank you. Good explanation.
And hard honest work to do.

Self reflection, for me came in many layers (of protecting myself/child self). It is hard at first but upon letting that protected self out & reintgrating with it is such a spiritual reunion & sort of a rebirth. I went through "the dark night of the soul". The journey started very painfully but as I continued, I became more and more thankful. I am so thankful and happy that I can be the me I was protecting. I AM. Blessing & light ☀️🐾🙏