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
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