“Your life will be transformed when you make peace with your shadow.”
There can be a great deal of pain associated with our pasts. That pain can bring on feelings we try and avoid at all costs; feelings of shame, embarrassment, and hopelessness. The thing about our past however, is it will always be a part of us. No matter how much we try to hide where we came from our past cannot be unwritten, it will always follow us, be our shadow. The key to dealing with our past is through acknowledgement, acceptance and understanding. Acknowledging that the pain and hardship was real, accepting the circumstances we were dealt or the choices we made, and understanding that every experience has a lesson or opportunity for growth hiding in it somewhere. If we continue to conceal our shadows, we allow the past to haunt us and negatively affect our lives. To make peace with your past is to make peace with yourself. We have the choice to turn our shadows from a gloomy presence into a reminder of what we have overcome.
My long dark shadow has been affecting my life for years. I tried to hide it for a long time but it was always by my side. My shadow was a cloud of shame of the poor choices I had made for myself. The undeniable disregard for self-love and self-respect. The shadow did not allow me to see the light that was buried inside, instead I was overpowered by guilt, regret, and embarrassment. The process of coming to peace with my shadow was long and slow, and very much still a work in progress. I can truly say however, that by simply acknowledging its presence allowed for a transformation to begin. Accepting my past and appreciating the person it has allowed me to become has made the shadow a little shorter, and a little less dark each and every day. Have you allowed yourself to make peace with your shadow? How has it changed the way you live your life?