Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Dec/Jan 2019 Aspire Magazine Final | Page 57

I call this Your Shadow Side and it’s vital to
being the woman you are meant to be. As
spiritual beings having a human experience
we have developed two faces. The first
face we show to the world. It’s the face of
showing our best most of the time. The
second face we keep to ourselves. It is the
shadow. At times our shadow selves are so
private that we are not even aware of their
existence. In living out our daily lives we only
see glimpses. Often, we ignore or stuff deep
within, so we don’t have to face our shadow.
Bringing Your
SHADOW SIDE
Into the Light
In order to be loved and accepted, we
learned as children to hide away those
parts of ourselves that were not met with
praise and approval and adopt only those
traits and behaviors that were met with
open arms. Cutting off and burying certain
parts of ourselves was a necessary part of
our survival and it continues through all our
As spiritual beings having a human experience
we have developed two faces. The first face
we show to the world. It’s the face of showing
our best most of the time. The second face we
keep to ourselves. It is the shadow.
adult life. The truth is when we start facing
our shadows within we transform our life in
so many ways.
As I look back on my life from my early
years, I didn’t stand a chance. My shadow
was in overdrive. I started out of my Mama’s
womb being mischievous, hyperactive, not
listening, into everything and running on my
tip-toes. I recently had a loving conversation
with my Mom and she still doesn’t hesitate to
tell me that everything that happened I was
usually blamed for because I was involved.
We are born with innocence with our traits
to quickly follow. Part of our shadow nature
is already wired within at birth and the other
part through our experiences.
When I started college and into my adult
life I remember the overwhelming stress
of not making better grades, disappointing
my parents, not meeting up with societies
rules and feeling like everything in my life
that went wrong was my fault. In my late
30’s I started overcompensating by putting
more pressure on myself to achieve beyond
expectations in my career, to hold it all
together with my family and friends, trying
to be the best mom, wife and daughter and
to be perfection for everyone.
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