The shadow self

We are taught to ignore and shut of our shadow side from the moment we are born. 

We are told it's not ok to cry, it's not ok to be angry, it's not ok to be by ourselves. 

Even before we can conceptualize where we are and what we are to do here, we are cultured to be a good boy or a good girl, to be on our best behavior. And what does that mean?

Not to look in the deep holes in the ground so we don't fall, not to climb a tree so we don't rip our pants, not to dig in the mud so we don't get black under our fingers.  

Not to talk to strengers, or get messy with paint, not to walk naked around the house..... Who is the arbitrer of what is good and what is not?

It seems as long as we fit into mainstream we are good and if we want to go around the corner and poke in the shadows we are wrong. 

Very early on we are conditioned to grow and nurture only one side of our personality, we are disconnected and left yearning to be whole again. 

And those parts of us that are burried and chained to the floor of our souls are fighting for life and causing trouble since they have no other form of expression. 

We have come into the light of our earthly existence, and forgotten about our darkness...

And how can the light shine when there is no darkness?

We loose our shine, our glamour, our joy, we become dull and one dimensional,walking around the endless of circle of logic and reason. 

We mourn and long for our shadow self, and the rare moments of unity happen in secret, when no one is looking, so we don't offend someone's eyes. 

We suppress the way we feel, deny ourselves what we want, choke our words before they spill out of our mouths, and suffocate our dreams before they can fully form into ideas. 

We have become walking zombies, and it's ok as long as we are "good". 

And in the meantime our shadow self is growing weaker and weaker and slowly dying, so that even when it manages to cut through the rightousness  of our every day dealings, it is just a pathetic resemblance of it's original glory. 

There will be no "lived happily ever after" when the shadow self dies, that would simply be the end of all of it. 

Don't try to stuff the "bad" witch or the fire- breathing dragon in the closet in the basement, let them breathe, let them out and watch the magic return to our lives.