Welcome to my first blog – I’m really excited to be able to share about my work, my passion and just my thoughts in this way.
As a student and a coach of the shadow it has taken me several years to be able to describe to other people with a few words what shadow work really is about. But with Debbie Ford’s amazing documentary “The Shadow Effect” it has become a lot easier. In a little more than an hour Debbie provides so much information and gives an amazing taste of the shadow including how it can create such havoc in your life.
She exposes the opposing forces of dark and light that compete for attention within every human being. She teaches us about projections, how we give our power away by not realizing that the wonderful qualities we see in other people are nothing but a reflection of ourselves, a part of us that we have denied, suppressed or hidden away – just waiting to be released.
Debbie has made this documentary in collaboration with Deepak Chopra and Marianne Williamson and every time I see it, a new aspect of my own shadow – light or dark – shows up and creates a profound gift of transformation.
Basically shadow work is about accepting and loving yourself for who you are – good and bad – and the goal is not to become perfect, but to become whole again. To be able to have full access to all parts of yourself again.
It’s my experience that true empowerment comes when you can feel free to express your entire emotional range in healthy and constructive ways. A lot of times we get trapped in trying to suppress feelings that we have decided are “bad”, like anger, fear or jealousy.
And just like Debbie talks about in “The Shadow Effect”, we want to be able to use our feelings and not have our feelings use us. When our feelings are using us, we react rather than respond – we have no choice over our choices. But when we allow ourselves to become present to and be with our feelings, we can begin to take back our power from the programmed reactions of the past and make powerful choices about how we want to respond in the present.
Just recently I had the privilege to facilitate a workshop “The Guided Shadow Effect Interactive” for a group of fabulous women, who all had one thing in common; they were ready for something more in their lives. And to be able to see these women begin to make peace with their shadow and experience more self-love and self-expression made me feel so blessed to be able to spread this work.
Had I not learned to love and integrate my darkest shadows, I would still be stuck in my story, living a life so different – in all areas – from what I do today, where I love what I do and who I am. And that’s the best gift I can give to those around me – especially my son.
