Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) April/May 2017 Aspire Mag Full Issue | Page 56

In other words, your Shadow contains natural, normal and vital parts of yourself that you decided at a very young age you would NEVER be. But here’s the thing about the Shadow— ...it is essential to be able to recognize your Shadow and work with it. it can’t stay hidden under the rug forever. It’s a natural part of you, so it wants to be expressed. And when you reject a natural part of you, when you stuff it down and pretend it doesn’t exist, one of 3 things can happen: a) Your Shadow unexpectedly and abruptly comes out in exaggerated and dangerous ways, you can’t control it, and it hurts other people by accident. For example – Road Rage usually happens when one stuffs their Anger down and down until it finally explodes. Or in scenario #1 above the Predator came finally came out (we each have inside of us a natural predatory energy that helps us fend for ourselves) b) Your Shadow gets turned on yourself. This comes out in nail biting, self medicating, self deprecation and any form of self-sabotage. Scenario #2 above is an example of the Shadow acting in self-sabotage 56 www.AspireMAG.net | April / May 2017 c) You recognize that Shadow energy in others and it drives you nuts, it activates you, you judge the other person for having this energy, and you obsess over it. If you’ve ever heard the term “You spot it, you got it” – that’s the Shadow. #3 above is an example of recognizing your own Shadow in someone else. (It’s important to note that there are Dark Shadows and there are Light Shadows. When we spot our Dark Shadows in others, we spot sexuality, aggressiveness, anger, competition, etc.—things that are not acceptable. But sometimes we can also get triggered by the Light characteristics that we don’t own & recognize inside of ourselves, but desperately need to – courage, risk-taking, self- confidence, intelligence). So, it is essential to be able to recognize your Shadow and work with it. Not only so that you can avoid hurting others, hurting yourself, or being triggered by others, but also because your Shadow holds incredible pieces of gold and beauty and potential that you miss out on when you push those energies into Shadow. There is a ton of power, empowerment and creative energy in the Shadow. Some of your truest self is found in the Shadow, and owning it allows for deeper self-acceptance, self love and peace. For example, when I help my clients own their Destructive Shadows, then instead of self-sabotage or reckless competition with others, they are able to harness that Destructive energy to easily and swiftly let go of things in their businesses that don’t serve them. Or, when I help clients own their Lazy Shadows, then