By Hollie Warnick
That’s just what life is: a play full of light and shadow. It’s so easy to love ourselves and others when we are at our best, when we are achieving and blowing past expectations. It’s when we fall short, “fail”, and mess up that it’s hard to show self-love or compassion for others. Sometimes we even consider our “mess ups” to be darkness, a character flaw or and shameful event we want to hide and cover up.
Unfortunately, it’s when we cover things up that they fester, they grow warts and claw deeper into our subconscious. That which was a mole hill becomes a mountain. Remember when you were a kid and you took an extra candy, picked up a loose item at the store that wasn’t yours, or omitted the truth when you made a mess and didn’t clean it up? Remember your specific event? If you do, there may be guilt or shame locked around it still. If you feel unhappy looking back on any experience, there is something hiding, something that needs to be freed.
Experiences from our past get locked into our subconscious when we negate them or judge them as wrong in some way. We fold in on ourselves as we reject what has happened in our life. In the moment of rejection, or judgement, we grasp onto the energy of the experience. That is when we get clogged, when we create shadow. The judgment is what binds us to the experience.
One of the more binding labels or judgments that we pass is shame. Guilt is a close second. These emotions/feelings are the chains we place on ourselves to separate us from that which we deem inappropriate or painful. These are what we hide, condemn and cast down within ourselves.
Shame creates shadow. Bring it into the light; remove the cover from your experience. Acknowledge it as your experience and just that. There is no need to judge or create more fanfare and story around the event or situation. Our job is to just be the witness of what goes on. When we judge, we hold on to what we judge. There is no flow; there is stagnation.
If you have a painful event that is steeped in shadow, find that person or tool that will allow you to bring it to light. I have a special podcast episode on this topic called “Shadow Work”. Find me on your podcast app to gain more insights or schedule a discovery phone call with me to get moving on your healing.
Find your way to loving yourself forward, backward, inside and out.
Hollie Warnick is a Behavioral Kinesiologist and Reiki Master utilizing behavioral health concepts, energy medicine, and essential oils to help clients love themselves and their life forward, backward, inside, and out. She is the secretary of the GVC ReSources board and mother of 4. Join her world via podcast, personal transformation sessions, classes and more at HollieWarnick.com or call (520) 800-4383.
