Carl Yung says no matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel if you do your work truly and

conscientiously unknown friends will come and seek you no matter how many friends you have you could

always use one more your own Dark Side everybody has a dark side but most people are unaware of it

this is one of the most important things K Yun has brought to light during in his career as a

psychoanalyst Dr Yung along with Sigman Freud and Alfred Adler was one of the founders of

modern depth psychology or psychoanalysis after some time Yung separated from Freud's teachings

to pursue his own beliefs he founded his own School of Psychology alongside the field of

analytic psychology among yung's published books are psychology of the unconscious man and his

symbols the the archetypes and the collective unconscious Modern Man In Search of a soul the

psychology of the transference memories dreams and thoughts and the relations between the ego and the

unconscious one of yung's most important teachings was about the self and the psyche the psyche is

what some people would consider to be our soul or mind and it encompasses our Consciousness as well

as our unconsciousness the self is the psyche and all its potential the totality of who you are and

who you could become our Consciousness contains everything we're aware of and in contrast the

unconsciousness houses everything we are not aware of Yung became immensely famous for his theory on

the individuation process an almost step-by-step plan that seeks to fulfill your psyche's potential

by trying to make the unconscious ious the most important part of the unconsciousness to focus

on for this practice is what Yung called The Shadow or your dark side the shadow contains

all the aspects of yourself that you'd rather not have and are in denial about your bad traits and

darkest side the shadow is what you try to pretend you don't have even to the point of

convincing yourself examples of traits the shadow could house are explosive anger jealousy Envy

greed Pride laziness vanity and so on generally we tend to be completely unaware of our shadow

it's in our unconscious but the suppressing of your unconsciousness is exactly what sustains

unhappiness inauthenticity and misery while you might think your Shadow sounds more like your

enemy than your friend in this video we'll explain why that's not true and why you should consider

your dark side your friend number one your dark side can reveal your true self Carl Yung says

no Noble well-grown tree ever disowned its dark roots for it grows not only upward but downward

as well a defining part of your Shadow is the fact that you don't know it that's why it's called the

shadow everything you know about yourself is in the light all the other things are behind it in

the shadows and in order to befriend your dark side it's vital to shine a light on your Shadow

to truly try and get to know yourself remaining ignorant about your unconscious and especially

the shadow is very dangerous in theory when you repress your bad traits you only show your good

ones but in fact you can never truly remove bad traits whatever you push down is bound to Bubble

back up during unexpected uncontrollable moments for example the repression of your anger will

result in sudden outof the blue outbursts every now and then in the most unpredictable ways the

same goes for any other undesirable trait if you ignore your flaws they will always control you

the denial of our Shadow Self however feels very natural it's difficult to try and look straight

into the aspects of ourselves that we despise or fear the most how could someone who takes

great pride in their kindness and generosity ever acknowledge their raging Envy how could someone

who sees themselves as fully confident ever address their insecurities well in most cases

they don't if someone sees themselves as a highly confident person they'll probably ignore and deny

their insecurities but that doesn't mean they're not there instead they might subconsciously avoid

facing their insecurities by avoiding certain situations not wearing certain clothes and so

on people who remain in denial about certain parts of themselves have to stay in their own bubble in

order to avoid running into those parts if you pretend to be confident you'll always have to

avoid anything that could bring your insecurities to light but true confidence comes from facing

your fear and insecurities and doing so can only be done by recognizing them or in other words by

recognizing Your Shadow how can you work on something that you don't even know exists

since you cannot improve what you don't know the first step of growing beyond your weaknesses is

to get to know them how by interrogating yourself get to know the deepest darkest side of yourself

this won't be easy it takes time effort focus without distractions and you have to keep the

conversation flowing take some time out of each day to ask yourself what behaviors did

I exhibit today why did I do the things I did what motivated me what was I afraid

of today the best ways to reflect on these questions that Yung recommends specifically

are through meditation journaling or drawing when it comes to drawing Yung specifically

recommends focusing on drawing mandalas drawing something especially something as symmetrical and

simple as a mandala relaxes your brain and will help your thoughts focus on all the things that

you normally suppress moreover the kinds of lines you draw and colors you choose can tell

you things about yourself do you use round soft shapes or harsh lines cold colors or warm colors

and what do you think this reflects if you analyze yourself through mandalas every day week or month

you can track your growth and changes in a way you never have before another particularly helpful

aspect to examine when it comes to exploring your Shadow is how you view others one big consequence

of suppressing your bad traits is Extreme and often unfair Judgment of others portraying that

very trait you want want to convince yourself you don't have for example if you've convinced

yourself you're never lazy and you've suppressed your tendency to be lazy into your Shadow you'll

quickly brand others as lazy even if you don't have enough information or context to do so this

is called projection instead of accepting the fact that you might feel lazy every now and

then you project that trait onto others suddenly everyone you see sitting down or taking a break

is lazy and you judge them harshly even unfairly for it so when you sit down to explore Your Shadow

take the extra time to ask yourself who did I judge today why what traits do I find the most

despicable in others and why and do I ever feel a tendency to portray that trait too however you

do it make sure you set aside a certain time to spend reflecting like in evening before bed or

in the morning before work getting to know your Shadow is a difficult and NeverEnding process

since you're always changing but it's also one of the most rewarding things you'll ever do once you

get to know what it is that you push away you get to know what drives you the most and what

truly makes you you after having gotten to know your Shadow you probably won't like it in fact it

might dis disturb or even disgust you you don't want to associate with anything you found let

alone befriend these traits but that is what you need to grow as a person number two your dark side

can give you advice according to Yung one does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light

but by making the darkness conscious allow your new friend the shadow to give you advice every

now and then no matter how badly you might want it to be false Your Shadow is part of you and every

single part of you can be helpful in different kinds of situations for example Your Shadow

might be made up of greed anger childishness and laziness not an ideal friend sure but what

positive qualities might these traits house a greedy friend might inspire you not to settle

when you could have more maybe in order to avoid being greedy you've always been overly generous

denied yourself luxuries or convinced yourself you don't deserve whatever your Shadow wants however

being the opposite of greedy can backfire in many ways greed is of course a bad trait and

generosity is greatly appreciated but those who find no balance between the two do themselves

no favors if you want to get a raise at your job you often need to ask for it if you want to lift

from a friend you should reach out and tell them if you want to treat yourself every now and then

you should be able to instead of ignoring your greed see it as a friend telling you you deserve

more you might disagree from time to time but you should at least hear it out moreover take anger

someone who's always angry isn't Pleasant to be around that's true loads of people especially

those who want to be seen as kind easygoing or gentle repress their anger all the time

they hide it in their Shadow and never look at it repressing anger however allows it to Fester which

can lead to sudden outbursts or even serious mental health problems besides that anger can

actually be incredibly useful when your friend in other words you is angry ask yourself why anger is

often a basis for fairness and Justice sometimes the anger you feel is very much appropriate and

can serve as a motivation for you to stand up for yourself so like with greed instead of repressing

your anger you should listen to your Shadow as if it were a friend saying hey you should be angry

about this and then decide whether you agree or not a childish friend might show you what it's

like to regard the world with Wonder and enjoy the little things lazy friends will teach you how to

relax and take breaks the longer you think about all those bad traits you'll start to realize just

how many upsides they have and in turn you can show this friend how to balance all these traits

and only give into them when it's useful to listen to these pieces of advice and put them to good use

you need to acquire wisdom that's hidden in every single part of yourself even the parts that seem

bad in order to befriend Your Shadow you have to look past the discomfort of your bad traits

and consider them truly and objectively once you know it's what's been holding you back you

can actually use it to go forward so your friend gives you advice okay sometimes it will be bad

advice but sometimes it'll be really really good advice advice that you'll only know if you accept

your Shadow into your life number three your dark side can help you be unique in the words of Yung

becoming conscious of your Shadow is the essential condition for any kind of self- knowledge getting

to know your Shadow means getting to know a whole new side of yourself and this can also

help you become your most authentic unique self repressing the shadow asks for a lot of

pretending you have to pretend not to be lazy not to be scared not to be insecure and more people

who ignore their Shadow the hardest are often the most inauthentic people because they're too busy

trying to become what they think others want them to be rather than actually being themselves and

worse they're in denial of their actual selves the shadow often houses the traits that are most

unique to us because being different scares us we want to be like everybody else so we've convinced

others and ourselves that we are but having shoved away all those traits that are unique and unusual

it's impossible to embrace your uniqueness so getting to know your Shadow and seeing it as a

friend giving you advice is the way to become your most unique full and authentic self listening to

your Shadow's advice can help you come to Creative Solutions that you'd never have thought of without

being conscious of your Shadow Solutions ideas and actions that are unique to you knowing your Shadow

is vital for being proud of yourself and acting as such for example if you accept the fact that you

were greedy you might suddenly realize you're great at advocating for yourself and what you

deserve all the things you know about yourself thanks to your Shadow and all the things you

now do better they all come together to make you a unique person moreover when your shadows conscious

you'll face your deepest secret desires hopes and dreams you'll find that you have aspirations you

had no idea of before befriend ing the Shadow and that you have personal goals in life that

had been hidden to you before that moment living authentically looks different for every single

person that's what makes it so authentic so living according to the shadow means breaking free from

the norm and embracing your own ideas and plans discuss your life plans with your shadows ask

your Shadow for advice and proposals and learn who you truly uniquely are by befriending your

Shadow you can embrace your true self number four your dark side can fight you in our final quote

from Carl Yung for this video he says beware of unearned wisdom like with any friend sometimes

you and your Shadow will fight first and foremost when you don't acknowledge Your Shadow it will

harm you this has already been discussed but it's important to reiterate that getting to know your

Shadow is a continuing effort exploring the shadow is never fully over just like any friendship your

relationship with your Shadow requires constant work and effort and neglecting it results in

fights so what does fighting with your shadow look like an uncared for shadow will Express itself

in New numerous ways unhelpful gut feelings outbursts unfair judgment towards others and

self-consciousness this has also been discussed but even after you've accepted and integrated

Your Shadow it can still trick you the advice Your Shadow friend gives you can be wrong the

feelings you feel as a result of your Shadow can be deceptive and everything can become too much so

sometimes our shadow Parts get the upper hand in an unhelpful way we get destructive instincts or a

bad feeling your Shadow can tell you to get angry in a situation where it would be an overreaction

or to relax when you should be putting the work in or to go against the norm when it simply isn't the

time it's your job not to just listen to your Shadow blindly but fight it every now and then

engage in discussions with it befriending your shadow requires patience all the time patience

for yourself and patience when making decisions the shadow gets the most chance to destruct

when you don't give yourself time to actually converse with it so fighting with your Shadow

doesn't mean you should start ignoring whatever intuitions you have don't go back to repressing

parts of yourself instead carefully consider and interrogate your instincts and feelings

in determining the legitimacy of whatever your Shadow advises you your rational thinking is of

importance is what your Shadow telling you making logical sense what are the upsides and downsides

to it does something feel right or not and why what is it about this option that makes you feel

hesitant reflect on your decisions often Again by journaling drawing meditating mind mapping

or anything don't make a decision unless you understand why you're making this decision

confronting Your Shadow often is what truly gives it its helpful power make sure to fight it every

now and then not out of anger or distrust but in order to make sure you remain sharp and get

the best possible use out of your Shadow if you enjoyed this video please make sure to check out

our full philosophies for Life playlist and for more videos to help you find success and happiness

using beautiful philosophical wisdom don't forget to subscribe thanks so much for watching