Notes on Shadow
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For this edition of the newsletter I am sharing excerpts from my notes from a lecture on the shadow that I attended in March which was led by Someone who Knows: The shadow can contain amazing qualities, but it is dark and mysterious and taboo. "I'm not a thief, but I steal from convenience stores when I'm drunk." This is an attempt to return to psychic wholeness, to acknowledge what is suppressed within us. Light: "I want to save everyone!" // Shadow: Uncompassionate acts. The shadow arrives when we are relaxed or tired. Light: "I'm LGBTQ+ friendly!" // Shadow: But actually not so much for trans people. We might enjoy having our boundaries crossed. We might enjoy crossing other people's boundaries. You can own your desire without acting on it: detached desire. Attachment: Needs from the chronically unmet self. "If you can't put something down, why?" When making sweeping generalizations, what we judge is in the shadow. "Oh my god in America everyone's dietary needs and neurodivergence is so much!" -> SHADOW Breadcrumb: Radical Honesty by Brad Blanton... RH with self, RH with others on a need-to-know basis, tearing down the identities that people place on you. Meet people's messes with compassion, understanding, and acceptance. Get curious, ask questions, assume the best in others. Things I made:
ANNOUNCEMENT: I am going to film and share a video every day in April over on my YouTube channel. Because you have opted in to receive my words in text form, I believe that you will also enjoy my spoken words which come with the tone and the body language and the emotion and all of that other wonderful human stuff. Check out today's video on how loving presence is the new currency to see and hear for yourself. Thank you for reading! You can share this post with this link. Visit my website to explore my collection of entertaining and useful digital creations and to learn about my 1-1 coaching. |
@strangestloop
I was planning to write an analogous story about a kid who goes to summer camp but it doesn't feel right to drop breadcrumbs. Your attention is precious and I care too much about what I'm doing to be cute about it so I'm going to feed you the damn sandwich. My love of connecting with people is the seed that grew the roots of my coaching offering which sprouted Masculine Witness which has blossomed into what I am learning and practicing and offering now. I have attended two in-person trainings...
I am an addict. At the festival a priestess asked us to write our sins on a slip of paper, fold it up and place it in a spherical glass bowl. I wrote: I habitually overeat and undersleep and overscroll. I don't want you to know these things about me for various egoic reasons, but allowing myself to be seen and known has been wonderful medicine for me lately, so now you know. An addiction means that someone knows that the thing is harmful, but they do the thing anyway. I know. I know as I do...
On a recent neighborhood walk I noticed and appreciated what I looked at as though it were an art gallery and that got me thinking about how I can appreciate the details in my awareness in all moments and that got me thinking about the importance of paying attention to what I pay attention to. I continue to pull on the red Kabbalah string and its lessons continue to be comforting and clarifying and inspiring. There is an emphasis on noticing the tendency to unconsciously react and instead...