11:11 Befriending the Shadow to Uncover the Artist

The Unconscious Mind is the Art Studio of the Soul.

Photo by Rishabh Dharmani@Unsplash

When you shake hands with your shadow, you can quit warring with your flaws and get on with the soul’s work: Creation.

If you’re having trouble getting in touch with your deepest desires, it could be an invitation to enter the realm of the unconscious mind. Although you may think you are awake and in command of your words and actions, typical, everyday behavior is largely shaped by primitive impulses, needs and fears that dwell in the hidden or unconscious areas of the mind.

We all have both a conscious and an unconscious aspect to our mind. Whether it’s a slip of the tongue, an irrational outburst or a flash of intuitive insight, we are constantly subject to influences that arise from somewhere other than the ordinary, conscious mind. The shadow exists in the deep recesses of the psyche, where we find not only the distressing experiences we’ve shoved out of our conscious minds, but also the resources we need to help us overcome challenges. In this post, we’ll take a deep dive (pun intended) into the murky and fertile recesses of your mind to discover why the unconscious mind is the art studio of the soul.

Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakens.

~ Carl Jung

As part and parcel of the human condition, we’re in possession of two minds, the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. The conscious mind is the realm of rational thought, linear reasoning and logic, while the unconscious mind is the territory where intuition, emotion and dreamstates dwell. The conscious mind judges, analyzes and compares while the unconscious mind remembers, accumulates and shifts forms in mysterious ways. 

The unconscious mind is the place where we imprison the ugly, unlovable or unacceptable parts of self in hidden caves of gray matter. Banished (and mad about it), the shadow self conducts covert operations to earn its freedom. It tries to capture attention by acting in ways that are compensatory, unpredictable and sometimes totally over the top. Like a prisoner pleading his case for leniency, the shadow takes over the conscious mind and justifies its illicit activities.

We will remain subject to the shadow’s sneak attacks on our rational mind until we acknowledge it as an essential and valuable part of our human condition that makes us creative, resilient and resourceful. 

One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. ~ Carl Jung

Like a physical shadow, the shadowy part of your personality follows you wherever you go. You may try to ignore, deny or suppress it, but eventually, usually when you’re trying to put our best foot forward, it will burst rudely out of the basement, kidnap your conscious mind and hold you hostage to its irrational demands. You may be mystified or horrified when a subterranean emotional landmine unleashes the shadow on you and an unsuspecting world; you may try to shove that shadow self back down into the basement and forget all about it, but it’s no use. It will explode into awareness the next time it gets activated by similar circumstances. 

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people. ~ Carl Jung 

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All forms of self-defeating behavior are unseen and unconscious, which is why their existence is denied.~ Vernon Howard

Trying to ignore your shadow is like partying with your better nature upstairs while the unsavory parts of self sit coiled in the recesses of the mind’s basement, plotting a takeover. Those sad, mad or scared parts of you, are, well, part of you. They have a story to tell, art to make and gifts to share that you can’t access as long as you condemn them to a lonely corner of the basement, pretending they don’t exist.

Instead of being sabotaged by your shadow, open the door to the “basement” of your unconscious mind. Welcome it to the party “upstairs.” Use your conscious mind to negotiate a mutually-acceptable truce. When you accept who you are without the burden of excessive shame, you become lighter and more nimble, able to move in more desirable directions with less struggle and self doubt. When you shake hands with your shadow and declare a ceasefire, you quit warring endlessly with your flaws and start to party with all of the creative parts of you, both upstairs and downstairs.

Befriending your shadow allows you access to the treasure trove within your unconscious mind.

It may seem counterintuitive, but whenever you accept the flawed parts of yourself instead of judging them as shameful, bad or wrong, they will come under your conscious control much more easily. When you accept that your mercurial human nature is designed for the purpose of learning, creating and growing your soul, you can allow yourself to let go of what you’ve outgrown and try on something new. 

Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

We’re not robots. The good, the bad and the ugly parts of us are what make us so beautifully and essentially human. Since emotional landmines are composed of suppressed, volatile and trauma-induced feelings, warehoused in non-rational territory, we can’t think our way out of old pain or force ourselves to forgive past injury. If left buried though, these undigested emotional leftovers from the original hurt become the collateral damage known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As long as volatile emotions remain inaccessible to our conscious mind, they’re capable of exploding into consciousness by outer provocations.

We restore wholeness and peace of mind when we welcome both the saint and the sinner in us to the party. 

If instead of denying, we shine a benevolent light on hidden feelings of vengeance, volatility or vulnerability, they dissolve with a gesture of acceptance, as our conscious choice to accept is a solvent. Choosing empathy, understanding and forgiveness heals old wounds for good, allowing you to claim wisdom and traverse your path unafraid of sabotage. When you make the unconscious mind conscious and embrace it like the source of creativity that it is, you befriend yourself in both the shadowy and light-filled aspects. By embracing all aspects of self in a heartfelt way, you become wholly human and therefore a holy human.

When we shake hands with our shadow, we quit warring with our flaws and gain access to the rich and fertile territory of the unconscious mind, which is the workshop of the soul.