We Are All Made Of Light And Shadows
Light and shadows are our constant companions and fill our inner being. They are part of who we are and what we do not want to be. They are what we can be in the future. It is clear that they are the struggle between what we recognize and what we avoid. What we let into our lives, what we ignore and what we do not want to see. And in this small but complicated, balancing act, we try to live our lives without letting any part control us.
Our intuition tells us that the balance between what we know and what we do not want to know is difficult to achieve. In order to live with ourselves , we must be able to accept the truth of the matter. We are made of light and shadows. That is why there will always be parts of us that we do not want to accept.
To get to know our lights and shadows
Accepting the darker side of our lives can cause pain, but at the same time it can mean growth, change and self-acceptance. This means that we really need to get to know ourselves and develop a healthy self-esteem in our lives. Not everything is light, and the lights do not always shine in our lives. They actually dazzle us sometimes and the shadows can actually give us the answers we are looking for.
Are you aware of your own shadows?
Carl Jung defined our shadows as a combination of frustrations, shameful or painful experiences, and fears or insecurities that lie in our subconscious. The shadows contain all the negative aspects of our personality that our ego cannot always accept. Because of this, it can actually stop us from living in a real way and expressing our true feelings.
Evil, selfishness, envy, cowardice, jealousy, greed and many of our emotions and fears are the shadows lurking within us. We often become aware of them when they lead us into conflicts with other people. On other occasions, they show themselves in guilt or unexplained bouts of depression. We end up not even recognizing the image we transfer to others.
We ourselves are able to project these shadows on others because we cannot accept that these feelings, thoughts or ideas belong to us. We are programmed from our childhood to hide our mistakes, our desperation and every negative part of our lives. It is simply human to keep these shadows inside us, while maintaining the light. Light and shadows go hand in hand.
Have you ever been dazzled by your own light?
The light that we are made of, the lights that surround us and that shines from within us, are all the qualities, virtues, feelings, behaviors, or desires that we like to show to others. It’s so easy to use them as a mask all the time, as if they were our only true identity.
We can choose to be joking, intelligent, understanding, social, tough or brave. We can choose how we want to project ourselves for others in our social lives.
These days, the light of personality shines more and more through our presence on social networks. We live a second life where the shadows not only hide, but also seem to not even exist. What may at first seem like a good thing and a way to protect us from the miseries of our lives, is in fact the epicenter of the expression of modern narcissism.
That is why it is so important to know what our shadows are. They are what help us maintain an inner balance. We are fallible, we feel jealousy, envy or guilt, but we also rebuild ourselves. We are human beings, and accepting the true reality, and not a fiction, will help us develop a healthy self-esteem and live a better and richer life. Do not deny your shadows, accept them. Do not blend yourself with the lights – look for your inner balance.
