If you were a bad person after shadow work what was next?

[n8765]

[Sonorous]

Assuming by shadow work you're talking about integrating the shadow, then the next step is to distance yourself from things that activate the shadow. For instance, I'm a bad person. I'm nice but I'm legit someone who would be ruthless with no remorse if need be. Since I'm like this, I make sure to stay away from anyone who would trigger that part of me. It's hard to trigger. You'd have to try to like kill me or someone I love in order for my shadow to fully take over & disregard the little rules we have. But it's still possible. I see it in me for instance when I train. I have to force myself to stop because after a certain point, I become more adrenal & then my shadow takes over & it doesn't care if I break my bones or tear muscles. Whatever it wants when I'm in that state, I have to fight hard to avoid it. And that's just what you & anyone else who is extremely rebellious like me should do. Helps to also wear your body out to the point where you don't have energy to retaliate. For instance, when certain people that I don't like come into my life, I'll purposefully physically wear myself out physically so that I wouldn't even want to fight them or retaliate if I had the chance to due to just being weak.

[n8765]

Thank you

[Sonorous]

No problem. And remember that when times get the hardest, do everything in your power to avoid stress hormones from shaping how you react. I find by simply feeling when they come on & then intentionally using that energy for more positive action is better. For instance, there's someone that I really don't like & whenever he comes around, I become pretty adrenal & hostile feeling. I find myself going to the cold ruthless side of me that is willing to say "fuck it all, how about right now." But then I try hard to remember how my default state is. It's the complete opposite & I'm only acting in that way as a defense mechanism. So I'll do something like intense cardio or a workout to put some of that energy to good use or I'll put some headphones in and play extremely angry or aggressive music to help my shadow feed on that instead of the person I'm upset with. Just wanna do stuff like this long enough for those intense emotions to subside & then afterward, reflect on how differently you feel once they pass. They will pass but the reflection is key because it could set you up in a better place the next time you're exposed to the stressor. We probably have different stressors but hope this still helps you as much as it does me. Because my shadow scares the fuck out of me sometimes. I don't want others to think that that's me. That's me at my most defensive life or death mindset/place. Not the usual calm me.

[n8765]

Thank you for understanding and sharing, it's really kind

[Sonorous]

Yeah no prob. I don't know much about the psychological aspect of it all but I always found that deep diving into that didn't help me much. I find that practical physical changes seem to help the most. Like for instance, take uncontrollable binging on food. It comes from a lack of control similar to when the shadow takes over. But making food difficult to binge or keeping it in hard to find or reach places makes it a hell of a lot easier to adhere to healthier eating habits. Anything regarding self control & will power is similar in this way. I have a lot of control & will power until I don't & then it's like a switch. On or off. But when I put obstacles in from of whatever my trigger is until I can actually dive deeper into my mind/psyche, it seems to help more in real-time.

[n8765]

But how you dealing with controlling yourself when you feel heavy guilt

[Sonorous]

Damn I don't know that I can help you in this way. I don't really experience extreme guilt anymore. The only time I experience it a bit is in real-time. But once the moment passes, I see such a disconnect with my past self & my current self that makes it so that I can't even fully identify with my past self.

Could view it similar to waking up from a coma & having a different personality. If people burst in the room & start yelling at you for something you did before the coma, you'd likely be confused & wouldn't be able to truly feel guilty because you're not doing anything wrong. They're not upset with you, they're upset with another version of you. That's how I feel at least.

[n8765]

Thank you very much for it too

[Sonorous]

Yeah no prob really

[aaron13547]

What do you mean by bad person? That you don't like what you discovered... that's what shadow work is... getting in touch with all the things you don't like about yourself. Understand your strengths and weaknesses and know how to use yourself as a tool in the most productive way. If you feel like you're a bad person after shadow work you're on the right track you're just getting started thou. You got this just remember the purpose is you and you're worth the world

[BigSwingingBalls]

is shadow work the Jungian stuff about integration?

[Anonymous]

What is shadow work?

[AndrésC64]

I don't understand the question.

[CuriousMufuxka]

Like as a mime?