What Is the Shadow, Shadow Work with Alyce Barry Jungian Psychology

ALYCE BARRY'S
SHADOW WORK
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What is shadow?

"Shadow" is a term first used by psychologist Carl G. Jung to describe the part of the self that is hidden from view. Robert Bly, in his book A Little Book on the Human Shadow, described the shadow as a bag each of us carries over one shoulder. Though we were born expressing all of our human nature without editing or censoring, we learned as we grew that some aspects of our nature were unacceptable to the people around us. Maybe we were criticized for feeling afraid, or teased for crying, or punished for getting angry. Perhaps we were ridiculed for wanting attention or acting proud of ourselves. So we threw these natural aspects of our nature into the shadow bag, until as adults we have become so weighed down that we can move forward only with difficulty.

Although "shadow" sounds dark, our shadow bag contains not only the "dark side" of fear, anger, grief, and shame, but our golden potential as well: our power, self-esteem, wisdom, and natural intimacy. With these parts of ourselves in the bag, we cannot lead the lives we most want.

How can I see my shadow?

There are three simple ways to spot your shadow. First, by looking at what you most admire in other people. When we throw parts of ourselves into the bag, we hide from ourselves even the knowledge that we have them, because that's less painful than counting coins we cannot spend. When we encounter people who embody those traits, we admire them and believe painfully that we "could never be like that."

Second, by looking at what you find most irritating in other people. It hurts to put away your self-esteem, your power, your most colorful, radiant or intuitive self, and when you spot people who can do what you can't, they irritate you by "getting away with murder." This is what those in the twelve-step tradition mean when they say, "If you spot it, you got it."

And third, by looking at what you do "without meaning to." No matter how deeply a shadow lies hidden, it's still a part of you, and it will leak out of the bag from time to time to let you know it wants to emerge. Maybe you resolve to eat less and find yourself bingeing late at night. Maybe you resolve to start that project today and later find yourself immersed in something else entirely. Maybe you feel compelled by an irresistible force to act against your own better judgment, as if something has taken you over. Shadow may be running — even ruining — your life.

The purpose of Shadow Work

It takes energy to keep parts of ourselves hidden inside the shadow bag, energy we could be using to fuel our current passions and go in new directions. In Shadow Work, we believe that within every shadow behavior there is valuable fuel. Behavior is simply energy being used in the way we've been taught to use it, but the energy itself isn't bad. It can be reclaimed and placed in service of our current goals. It's risky to bring shadow behaviors out of the bag in the midst of your everyday life. Shadow Work is a "place" apart from your daily life where you can examine your shadow safely and make conscious choices about how to integrate it in a way that works in your life today.