Coming Home to Yourself Through Shadow Work with Michelle
On this episode, we have a special guest and my good friend- Michelle! Michelle is a writer, educator, and nurse mentor who helps nurses cultivate inner resiliency and wellbeing, so they can live a life they truly love beyond the bedside.
A key component of self-growth and healing is learning to love your shadow self and having the courage to explore those pieces of yourself that you’ve repressed. My conversation with Michelle today takes shadow work a layer deeper!
Michelle’s journey and breaking point that brought her to who she is today
From a very young age, Michelle always knew that she wanted to be nurse and wanted to be helping people. She went into nursing because she knew that she wanted to be so hands on and be available for people when they’re the most vulnerable. Right now, Michelle is a traveling nurse and back in March 2020, she ended up in the COVID ICU in New York. It was here that she discovered how much she was able to connect with people and their shadows and she also realized that they teach nurses to be strong and not show that vulnerable side at work, but also don’t talk to them about how to process their emotions when they get home.
After checking off the boxes and being incredibly unhappy, she realized how much she wasn’t creating space for herself and not creating boundaries that she felt the strong pull to change. Since then, she’s been on a major journey of self.
How the psyche of your shadow self was created
Originally, the psyche of your shadow self stemmed from caveman times where there was imminent danger and your brain told you to be scared of this danger (ie: an animal trying to attack). It eventually evolved into what it is now, with much more grey area. We hear parents from a young age, complaining about their jobs and how unhappy they are and it affects how they interact with you, then it starts to create other association patterns. We then start creating other stories for ourselves and things continue to affect us as our lives evolve.
The dark shadow and the golden shadow
Your ego is constantly doing a sorting game with everything that occurs to us. We are constantly trying to be a good- fill in the blank. Anything that doesn’t agree with being “good” gets thrown into the shadow bag and this becomes our shadow self.
The golden shadow is a reflection of the things within us that we’re repressing. We often pull these things out when we do things like journaling or meditating. We are conditioned by our family, our friends, and ultimately our society. Once we start really stepping into who we are, we begin rejecting what others have told us to be and start fully accepting ourselves. This is where true fulfillment comes from.
3 ways to integrate shadow work into your life
Journaling- this is a great way to assess what we truly believe and how to work through our shadow self. You have to be vulnerable with yourself and completely truthful or you won’t be able to work through what’s holding you back and your own shadow work. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you are the only one reading it. Go to the depths of your knowledge.
Using Your Emotions- We need to process through our emotions that help us figure out where those shadows are coming from. It allows you to get to know your inner child and figure out what is causing you pain and where the pain is coming from.
Dreaming- This is something Michelle said she’s been dabbling into this so much more. She discusses it in terms of actual sleeping dreams and your day dreams. Overall, you just want to keep track of the chatter in your head.
