What is shadow work in Jungian language?
What is shadow work? In Jungian language, it is the slow work of noticing disowned anger, envy, desire, tenderness, or vulnerability without letting those materials take over. The Jungian shadow does not disappear when it is ignored; it returns in another form.
Jungian shadow begins as exclusion
In Jungian language, shadow is not simply evil. It is the material in the personality that the conscious self-image has not accepted.
A consistently gentle person may hide aggression in shadow; a consistently rational person may hide need and tenderness there.
Shadow work is seeing, not indulging
To see shadow is not to justify every impulse. It is to admit that something is present, then decide how to relate to it responsibly.
When Jungian shadow work can be named, it no longer has to speak only through projection, eruption, or self-sabotage.
Start with one shadow-work question
Who recently irritated me, and what quality in them feels forbidden in me?
What is the feeling I keep pushing down trying to protect?