| Exercise 1: Watch Your Emotional Reactions |
| Remember that the shadow is elusive; it hides behind us. The purpose of our defense systems is to suppress and hide the shadow archetype. |
| You will become more adept at identifying your shadow the more you observe your emotional responses. Recall that we frequently project our disowned aspects onto other individuals. |
| Observing how you feel about other people is one of the best methods to perform shadow work. |
| Sure, your colleague might be aggressive, arrogant, inconsiderate, or impatient, but if you don’t have those same qualities within you, you won’t have a strong reaction to their behavior. |
| Exercise 2: Engage in Inner Dialogue |
| A lot of inner work involves having an active conversation with your shadow. |
| Given that many people think “only crazy people talk to themselves,” this may initially seem unusual. However, each of us possesses multiple subpersonalities, or separate, independent aspects of our minds. These subpersonalities were dubbed archetypes by Jung. |
| Many different integrated psychologies offer ways of working with these disparate parts, including: |
| Jung’s Active Imagination |
| Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems |
| Stone and Winkleman’s Voice Di alogue |
| Assagioli’s Psychosynthesis |
| When we don’t pay attention to these parts—one or many aspects of our shadow—they influence our attitudes and behaviors. |
| Exercise 3: Challenge the Good Part/Bad Part |
| A lot of us consider ourselves to be “good people.” Being called a “good boy” or “good girl” when we were little caused us to identify with that praise. The division between the shadow archetype and our conscious self-identity grew as a result. |
| The instant you tell yourself, “I’m a good person,” your mind will begin to filter out everything you say, do, or think that doesn’t align with this belief. |
| Therefore, those who consider themselves to be “good people” almost often bring great suffering to both themselves and other people. Even worse, they are completely unaware of it! (That is, they are cut off from their true thoughts, feelings, and behaviors hidden in their unconscious.) |
| It also works the other way around: Your mind will likely ignore a lot of your excellent traits if you believe that you are a “bad person.” This is sometimes called the “golden shadow.” |
| Enumerate all the good things you have to offer. Then, highlight the opposite. Make an effort to recognize the opposite in yourself. For example, if you define yourself as disciplined, you’re likely repressing your laziness. Hiding in the shadows is the lazy side of me. |
| Your conduct and mindset are influenced by the pieces you have disowned. They incite internal conflict all the time. So, in this case, try identifying with this lazy part. See it. Accept it. Make friends with it. It’s okay to be lazy too. |
| Ego confrontations of this kind are essential to shadow work. |
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Anna Godfrey 