The shadow archetype: what it is and how it may help you

The shadow archetype refers to the part of your personality that has all the things of yourself that you don’t want to accept. Simply put, it’s your unconscious side that requires effort to be aware of it.

The shadow is what you believe is your dark and weak side, so you try to hide and deny it. However, this can depend on how you look at your life and your level of self-esteem. This post discusses what the shadow archetype is all about and how it may affect you.

Why you need to know your shadow

When you understand and face your shadow, you can become not only a whole person but also a balanced individual. For example, if you accept that you have anger issues and face the problem, you can create better boundaries. Likewise, if you accept sadness, likely, you can feel happy more fully than be stuck on one side of your emotional side.

Even better, if you know your shadow side, you can improve your relationships. After all, when you accept and understand yourself, there is a chance that you can accept and understand other people.

Think about this, if you are not creative in life, you can work to understand your shadow. Perhaps, when you feel freer emotionally, you can be flexible to find ways to accomplish things.

Even though you may repress and deny things about yourself, they don’t go away. Instead, they can become more powerful and cause more challenges to your life. Unfortunately, this is what happens with the repressed shadow side that can affect you through psychological projection.

How you can know your shadow

When you attend therapy, one of the first things that you will know is your shadow. This involves creating a safe space when experts can talk to you, especially if you’re not invested in your life. In this way, you can find yourself talking about things that you didn’t even think or feel.

Quite often, you can also access your shadow through journaling. You can work with your dream and the archetypes that you find in them. Remember that when you regularly blame others, it can be a way to access your shadow. Therefore, you can find the things that you don’t like in other people and figure out if you have similar characteristics within you.

It’s important when you try to identify and understand your shadow not to over-identify with it. For example, if you are experiencing depression, it’s not a good idea to identify your shadow because you are not in the right frame of mind to recognize your strengths.

This is the reason why you need to find the right support to do the shadow work with you. Thankfully, various trained and professional people are available out there who can help you explore your shadow in a friendly and safe environment.