“We are all wonderful, beautiful wrecks. That’s what connects us–that we’re all broken, all beautifully imperfect.”
~ Emilio Estevez
A new year for me always means a clean slate, a fresh start on how I want my life to go. As I was plotting the new direction of my journey for this next year, I realized that one of the first things I needed to do was to work on truly acknowledging and accepting my shadow side.
For those of you that don’t know what I mean by ” shadow side”, let me explain.
We all have a side of ourselves that can be dark, where we harbor negative thoughts, wishes and even desires. Our shadow self is not something we want to talk openly about and more often we deny.
You can’t accept what you don’t acknowledge so I’m here to share my discoveries from the other day when my shadow side was running full tilt and very uncensored:
- inside the ugly hateful thoughts that were filled with strong words, there was a light of clarity
- that clarity lead me back to the true root of my feelings which was fear first, then anger
- the anger and fear revealed other dark feelings that truly made me understand,
- to deny any part of my shadow self would be accepting only part of my whole being.
Loving and accepting this part of yourself is the bridge to moving forward into your life fully so that you can do and be all that you want to be. We all have a shadow side and the more acknowledgement you give to that side of yourself the more freedom you will have.
“Accept your dark side, understanding it will help you to move with the light. Knowing both sides of our souls, helps us all to move forward in life and to understand that perfection doesn’t exist.” ~ Martin R. Lemieux
Once you accept that you are not always going to be “cupcakes and sunshine”, what’s your next step in acceptance?
Keeping an open mind so that you can view your shadow self through a non-filtered lens, looking for the message within the darkness or simply learning to let those dark moments pass by without judgement.
The moment you hear the words, “Oh I shouldn’t feel like that or how could I think that” is your cue to tune in and see where your shadow side wants to take you. Will it lead you to clarity like mine did or do you just let it rage and move along? Either way you become more schooled in what your shadow side wants and in time acceptance will become easier.
Just like anything else in life, this is “life work” which means you have to roll up your sleeves and get dirty. If you want to grow your life then you can’t scratch the surface of the ground and expect to grow a wonderfully lush garden. You have to dig deep, plant well and enjoy reaping your harvest once you have succeeded.
That my friends is how you create a life you truly love and what better time to start than at the beginning of a new year.
Will you accept my challenge and join me?
I would love to hear your comments in the comment section below. And share the love of this post with someone in your life and have them sign up so they can receive even more love.
* 2014 for me personally and here at Zen Chick is going to be all about “breaking the rules.” Breaking out of what I’m suppose to do and blazing some new trails. If you would like to be a trailblazer, jump on over to my Work With Me page and see how I can help. Let’s make 2014 a year to remember. Peace and love to you all!