Benefits of Shadow Work
“It’s only after you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone that you begin to change, grow, and transform.”
― Roy T. Bennett
In my last blog post, I introduced the concept of shadow work to you, which you can check out here if you want to refresh yourself on it! In learning more about YOU, you are actually creating increased opportunities for yourself to not only know yourself, but to be able to control, manage, and stay in tune with yourself – no matter the situation. Magic? Actually, no! Just intentional personal work. In addition to that, there are 3 other benefits of shadow work that are important to know about, in preparation for your journey into digging into yourself, for the better.
Learning to be more accepting of others and how they show up in the world. You know those times when you’ve felt super irritated with someone, because of how they’ve talked down to you? Or how about those times when someone is expecting you to do something for them, without saying thank you or showing their appreciation? Yea…shadow work can help you here. Not only can doing your own shadow work help you to communicate with that person in a more authentic way (for your benefit), but it also benefits you in being able to understand the other person’s perspective, without automatically personalizing what the person is saying to you. Believe it or not, personalizing every interaction with another person takes a lot of energy!
Confronting trauma, grief, and other challenging emotions. The amount of different emotions we can experience on any given day can be…a lot! And just imagine if you haven’t gotten the right amount of sleep or fueled your body with the foods and beverages that help you feel energized. You can almost bet on being on the emotion rollercoaster until you find a way to meet those needs of yours! With some consistent shadow work under your belt, you’ll have worked more on building your ‘distress tolerance’ muscle. What’s that you ask? Well, it’s the muscle that holds all the emotions you cannot STAND to experience. Maybe it’s happiness, loneliness, sadness, peace….pick your poison. Actively spending more time with these uncomfortable emotions helps you develop a tolerance to it. To the point where it will not be as distressing each time you experience it. Why? Because you’re been doing your shadow work and learning and knowing about yourself more! More understanding can equal less fear.
Gaining more trust in yourself. When you’ve been disappointed by other people, especially someone who is supposed to show you care and consideration, it can be hurtful and can really change how you view trust. Now I want you to consider something….have you ever disappointed yourself? Ever let yourself down? If the answer is yes, then shadow work can be beneficial in you gaining more trust in yourself. Your mind, body, and soul are your home, and imagine if you were to walk around and continually disappoint or let yourself down – how in the world could you even begin to trust someone else? Or understand someone else? Never underestimate the amount of influence you can first have on yourself, and then on others.
Don’t ever forget the importance of you in this world. You owe that much to you.
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