We Are Made Of Lights And Shadows

Lights and shadows inhabit our interior. They are part of who we are, what we don’t want to be and who we can be. They are the struggle between what we recognize, what we avoid, what we admit and what we ignore or don’t want to see. And in this small but expensive balance, we try to go through our days without either party dominating our lives.

The truth tells us that the balance between what we know and what we don’t admit is difficult to achieve. In order for us to live well, we must take a good deal of acceptance of reality: we are made of lights and shadows, so there will always be parts of ourselves that we don’t want to accept.

Accepting our shadows can involve pain, but it also implies evolution, change and acceptance of ourselves: knowing ourselves and developing a healthy self-esteem in the face of life. It’s not all lights, lights don’t always light up our lives. Lights often prevent us from seeing the path and shadows can give us the answers.

Are you aware of your own shadows?

Carl Jung defined our shadows as the set of frustrations, embarrassing experiences, painful experiences, fears or insecurities that lodge in our unconscious. The shadow contains all the negative aspects of the personality that the “I” is not in a position to assume and which, for that reason, can prevent the manifestation of our true way of being and feeling.

Evil, selfishness, envy, cowardice, jealousy, greed and many of our emotions and fears are our shadows. We often become aware of them when they lead us into conflicts with others. At other times, they express themselves as feelings of guilt or even unexplained depression, reflecting an image in which we do not recognize ourselves.

We are able to project these shadows onto others so as not to assume that these feelings, judgments or ideas belong to us. We are programmed from an early age to hide failures, despair and everything negative in our lives. So, simply because we are human, we keep the light and the shadows within us.

Have you ever been blinded by following your own light?

The lights that make us up, that surround us and that illuminate us from within are all those qualities, virtues, emotions, behaviors or desires that we like to show. These are the masks with which we disguise ourselves on each occasion as if they were our only true identity.

We can choose to be playful, smart, understanding, sociable, shy or brave; we can choose what we want to show in front of the big social scene. Currently, our personality lights are brighter with the use of appearances on social media. We live a second life hiding the shadows, acting as if they don’t exist. What at first might seem like an asset, a way to protect us from the sorrows of our lives, actually becomes the focal point of the expression of modern narcissism.

That’s why it’s so important that we know our shadows, they help us maintain our internal balance. We are fallible, we feel jealous, envious or guilty, but we also pull ourselves together. We are human and accepting to live reality as it is, and not a fairy tale, will help us to develop healthy self-esteem and live a better, fuller life. Don’t deny your shadows, accept them; don’t be blinded by your lights, look for your inner balance.