Our Shadow Selves
People sometimes ask me if counselling is depressing work. While it certainly can be demanding at times to hold space for people in profound levels of pain, I also view it to be incredibly awe-inspiring. Like Carl Jung, I believe that acquainting ourselves with our darkness allows us to live more fully. Sometimes we suppress ourselves from known pain and historical trauma. Sometimes the traumas we hold are unconscious; they out of our explicit awareness, but they still cause us great pain.
Unconscious early-life trauma was something I myself experienced, and it is more common than one might think. Some indicators of implicit trauma include feelings of not belonging/fitting in, substance abuse, self-harm, or disordered eating, anxiety/panic attacks, depression, problematic interpersonal relationships, and additional struggles impeding one from achieving a life worth living, or simply resulting in feelings of something always feeling “off”. Because I was not aware of my implicit/unconscious trauma for so long, it hindered my ability to journey toward my preferred way of being.
While I could successfully connect to Self periodically, it was something I struggled to sustain long-term. My own journey and personal learning lead me to seek training and certification to help others embrace vulnerability, confront their shadow Self, and use that knowledge to achieve a preferred way of being. If you are ready to journey toward your preferred Self, contact me; you deserve to live a life of meaningfulness, authentic connection with others and Self, and gain personal wisdom to be able to navigate future struggles. [email protected]
The only way out, is through.
~ Kristen Neff
