Shadow work

As we work on improving ourselves in our fitness, career and relationships, we will confront every hidden, negative aspect of our self. Guaranteed. I can't stress enough the importance of managing our internal landscape when working on self improvement. As we try to improve our lives, our actions will stir up negative emotions and energy and doubts that will try to tell us we're not good enough, we don't deserve to succeed, it’s too hard, it's futile, it's pointless, there's no chance, etc. Those negative voices will come up, and it is critically important that we find a way to process them. Those are parts of our shadow, the parts of our psyche that will try to sabotage our efforts.

Don’t listen to them. They are the elements of our old self screaming as we drop them. And they are lying.

Find a method to overcome those shadow elements. Journaling, meditation, therapy, many other methods exist. Find one. This is a critically important part of any program of growth and development.

The core of this is self knowledge. Understand what our core self image is, what is operating inside our psyche at an unconscious level. If our unconscious drives, core self image, and emotional responses are in alignment with our conscious goals, values, and beliefs, we will automatically move in the direction of our desired goals. If our unconscious drives, core self image, and emotional responses do not match our goals, values, and beliefs, our efforts will not be as effective as they could be. And we will wonder why we never seem to get healthier, get better relationships, get better paying positions. Our unconscious drive and core self image is operating against us. We must learn to recognize this, and learn how to correct for it.

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Peace,

Dave Roel.

He who lives in harmony with himself lives in harmony with the universe.

- Marcus Aurelius

Overcoming the negative voices

One more thing about goal setting: Make sure your goals are specific. Instead of saying that you want to lose weight, put an exact amount on it. Instead of saying you want to be rich, put an exact amount on it. Instead of saying you want to help humanity or the world, put a specific thing that you will accomplish. This will give you a measurable way to determine progress. It also helps to put a definite time for the goal’s accomplishment.

As we work on improving our lives, we must be cautious about the negative voices that tell us we can’t do it. These voices can be external to us, coming from friends or family, or they could be internal voices, our internal doubts and fears plaguing us. These voices are insidious, and can sabotage our best efforts towards growth and progress. Whether external or internal, we must develop ways to counter those negative voices. The external voices of people around us will have to be regulated -- we require a network of understanding friends and family who are giving us positive and encouraging support as we work towards our goals. The internal voices are trickier. As we attempt to improve our lives, unconscious resistances may get stirred up. We will need to have some way to process them, if we do not wish for them to derail our efforts. Journaling, meditation, therapy, etc., some form of emotional processing that we can use to overcome those negative voices is absolutely essential in our efforts to work towards our goals.

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Peace,

Dave Roel.

You are better than you’re allowing yourself to be.

- Scott Sonnon