It is only when you go through the depth of despair that you awaken to your true self. Life lessons are engineered to rock us into consciousness so that we can return to our true nature. Uncage your true self through healing self-love and acceptance of all the parts that make you, YOU. 

When issues bubble to the surface know that the Universe is gifting you this opportunity to dissolve the barriers protecting your inner core. It is only through emotional anguish that you crack your protective hard shell open and show your true self to the world. Let go of fear, deal with it and be done with it in order to heal and return to yourself. Turmoil gives us the opportunity to decide to learn the lesson and remove the emotional pain, the dross, the superfluous, the things that no longer serve us. Take the necessary time to reflect and meditate on your issues in depth, because it is there for you to deal with the negativity and toxicity that you have been holding onto, sometimes unknowingly.   

Do take comfort in that life is everchanging, nothing is forever so therefore whatever is clouding your day will not stay forever. It too will come to pass. 

Remember you're never truly alone. The Divine has placed people on your life path at strategic points to be there when you need a helping hand, a word of comfort, or an understanding ear. Ask for help and learn to accept help with grace.  

Always strive to operate from a foundation of trust in the process of life, not Fear. Do not allow fear to paralyze you into inaction. Treat fear as the alarm system it is, let it spur you into action to avoid emotional turmoil. Take the necessary precautions to avoid potential chaos and move on. 

Stop struggling, recognize that struggling heedlessly only binds you tighter in chaos. Instead take a moment from the cacophony of life to reflect quietly on the situation and then take deliberate action, guided by your intuition. Do not get stuck in your struggles but release so you can bounce back into life. Recognize that struggles are life lessons to help you elevate yourself to the next level, to level up. You can do it, you are ready. 

Trust your intuition to guide and keep you through the maelstrom of life, knowing that you have what it takes. 

Trust the process of life enough to truly live and love without care and let your faith keep hope ablaze within yourself. No matter where you find yourself this day, cleave to the deep knowing that everything will be ok in the end. 

When you find yourself sinking deep into the abyss of negative thoughts, do not allow yourself to be engulfed and drowned by hopelessness. Instead reboot by exploring the origin of the thought of pain to gain understanding and clarity. Redirecting your thoughts along more constructive lines such as clinging to hope will help. This will allow you to resurface, inspired by the prospects of better things to come. 

If you find yourself seething with resentment and pain, take a compassionate leap of faith inwards and heal yourself. Acknowledge your feelings and allow it to flow freely through your emotional psyche. Understand that only you can release past self-sabotaging patterns for your highest good. It is time for healing yourself; so, go ahead, change your thoughts to change your life by getting to know your authentic self. 

You can only become truly whole by making the subconscious, conscious. You need to explore and acknowledge the hidden and denied parts of yourself. Those less than stellar qualities that we cannot bear others to see. The aspects that we hide from others and refuse to take ownership of is referenced as our shadows. We banish these impulses and traits and they all congregate together forming what is aptly referenced as our dark side. We zealously guard against it coming into the light. Paradoxically it is only by allowing it to surface and scrutinizing it that clarity, understanding and thus healing can occur. You need to let your light shine on the unacceptable bits of you so that your acceptance can transform and integrate them to unveil your authentic self. 

To become whole and live authentically you have to explore your pain, guilt, fears, shame, sadness, jealousy, envy, selfishness, etcetera; in order to integrate and release what no longer serves you. This is key to becoming whole. Don't turn your back on your shadows but get to know them as this self-knowledge will help you into integrating all aspects of yourself into a harmonious whole. Therefore, stop lying to yourself about your feelings as what you suppress in yourself you will recognize in others. Like attracts like, so if you are angry or hurt you will attract angry or hurt people as they will mirror back what is hidden within your depths. 

When issues bubble up to the surface, recognize that it is allowing you the chance to deal with it, to handle it in the right manner. In order to let go, be forgiving of whoever caused you pain, hardship or anger in order to learn the lesson, transform, integrate and let it go; and then you can move on. Therefore, take time to focus on it in depth, reflect on this shadow moment, the painful situation. See it as an opportunity to bring healing to yourself by claiming ownership which is the beginning of self-mastery. 

Remember to be nurturing and deal with challenges in a kind and understanding way to bring an end to the pain. Embrace the situation, process it in its entirety and then let it be done, let it end. When you hold onto the pain that someone caused you, feeding your grudge, hate or grievance by refusing to forgive them, it hurts only you. You cannot lead with your shadow side, for it is unbalanced. This causes you to play mind games and be manipulative. It also causes you to become guarded hiding behind the big energetic wall you created to protect yourself. 

Therefore, to heal it once and for all; relive it and refeel those emotions. It is crucial for you to face your shadow side, understand what is there, why they there in order to release it by working through it properly. This will allow you to move forward instead of staying stuck. Release, let go of the situation. Take time to carefully review your options from a kind and understanding place and have compassion for the person that hurt you. It will allow you to move through this dark period, this river of pain. 

Have that inner strength to deal with the situation with love as it will allow you to resurface kinder and the better for letting go, for releasing the pain and the bitterness. That is how you move on and raise your vibration by connecting with the pain and resentment that is trapped deep within you. You will then transform by letting go of the negative bits that were trapped within you. Realize that a lot of shadows were created as a result of childhood trauma when you did not have the necessary resources to deal with your emotions and therefore are stored in your nervous system as well as in the stories you have scripted. 

What do you want?   

Release your pain so you can move forward. 

Maintain your faith and hope that good things will come your way again despite your history. Shadow work is necessary so that you can heal the wounded parts of yourself and move into the light, restored and whole again. It is most opportune to remember this quote by Carl Jung that “Shadow work is the path of the heart warrior.” 

Trust that these quotes will be evocative enough to give you the impetus to get acquainted with your shadow side in order to kickstart your healing journey back to yourself by liberating yourself from the guilt and shame associated with our darkness.  

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

It is essential to be honest when confronting and dealing with your shadow self as it encourages self-knowledge which helps you to regain emotional balance. Though it is challenging to confront the side of ourselves that we have rejected and disowned it is essential to recognize, understand and ultimately accept the dark parts of our personality. This loving acceptance is key to being able to release them which will help you unlock and unleash your full potential which is essential to leading a fulfilling life. 

Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness's of other people - Carl Jung 

Knowing and owning your shadows totally leads to deep healing as it allows you to take charge, no longer at the mercy of these potential destructive forces but able to transform and integrate it for your highest good. 

Exposing and exploring your shadows puts you in the driving seat. You can only successfully initiate the necessary changes when you have full understanding of yourself which makes you more understanding and accepting of others idiosyncrasies. 

Shadow work enables us to alter self-sabotaging behavior so that we can achieve a more self-directed life - Connie Zweig 

Shadow work is healing as it allows you to be no more divided in yourself. That is, when you manage to integrate all the fragmented and disparate pieces of self with compassion, non-judgementalism and loving self-acceptance, it will allow you to become whole again, in sync totally, which allows you to live authentically. 

Shadow work is the path of the heart warrior - Carl Jung 

Shadow work connects you to your truest self as it shines a spotlight on the parts of your character that you have orphaned. This allows you to gain self-knowledge which leads to growth and ultimately a fulfilling heartcentered life, that is, allowing love to infuse your being and unleash your greatest potential. 

A man is whole only when he takes into account his shadow - Djuna Barnes  

You become empowered when you identify, acknowledge accept and integrate your shadow aspects, as you become whole, no longer hiding and ignoring the less stellar aspects of Self. This self-knowledge allows you to harness the totality of who you are which ultimately leads to fulfilment as you swop knavedom for self-mastery.  

When we are aware of our weaknesses or negative tendencies, we open the opportunity to work on them - Allan Lokas 

Awareness of your shadows allows you a measure of control, as the clarity gained allows you to avoid self-sabotaging tendencies through harnessing and channeling these aspects in service for your highest good.