Writing in a journal about your thoughts, feelings, dreams, images, and physical sensations trains you to pay attention to these ways you receive inner guidance. Keeping a written record is one of the best ways to begin trusting and developing your intuition. It’s a tool for self-discovery.
One of the first things that happens when you write down your observations is that you begin to know yourself better; you get a deeper sense of who you are and are able to explore and unlock your unconscious, revealing hidden aspects.
You also train yourself to pay attention by writing things down. You may get a sudden thought or an urge to do something, like take another route home. If you don’t heed these impressions or cues, you’ll dismiss them as insignificant. But this is exactly the manner in which intuition speaks to you; it is subtle and understated.
Recognizing intuitions when they happen takes discipline.
Everyone is born knowing, having an intricate and highly tuned inner GPS. There are different ways to recognize these messages; you may feel them (clairsentience), you may see them (clairvoyance), or you may hear them (clairaudience).
The key here is to write them down as soon as possible so you have a record where you can revisit them, strengthening your awareness of your intuition and seeing it working in your life. By journaling its presence, you allow intuition to become more evident and influential in your experience.
Discover your intuitive style.
Writing down your messages helps you uncover the major ways you receive them. Some people receive communication through dreams and images, while others through thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. You may even have a combination of them.
By keeping track of the subtle ways your intuition comes through, you get a sense of your intuitive style, making it easier to recognize it in the future.
There are many benefits to keeping a journal and recording your intuitive messages. They include stress reduction, healing, knowing yourself better, growth, and enhancing your intuition and creativity. The following list contains more specific advantages for employing this tool:
Reduces the scatter in your life
Detaches and lets go of the past
Balances and harmonizes
Reveals your greater potential
Clarifies thoughts, feelings and behavior
Helps you get rid of the masks you wear
Creates more results in life
Explores your spirituality
Improves self-trust and intuition
Awakens the inner voice
Provides insights
Don’t Know Where to Start?
Just jump in! Get yourself a notebook or a journal (it doesn’t have to be fancy) and a pen or pencil and beginning writing. Ask yourself some thought-provoking questions and ideas. Here are a few:
How can I get more stillness and serenity in my life?
List 5 things every day you are grateful for.
What do I criticize and judge others for?
What major blocks need to be resolved?
What excuses keep me stuck?
List three great ideas or creative things you’ve thought of.
When am I my happiest, saddest?
Journaling with intention and purpose has more uses and benefits than any other tools we know. It can truly help us make sense of our world.
Take a leap of faith. Commit to journaling so you can uncover your own inner wisdom.
The Wizard of Oz is a great example of Joseph Campbell’s, The Hero’s Journey, and the Four Survival Archetypes. The archetypes, the Child, the Prostitute, the Saboteur, and the Victim, are all involved in and symbolize our significant life challenges related to survival.
Each one represents concerns, issues, fears, and vulnerabilities that cause you to negotiate away your spirit’s power in the physical world. They must be confronted and overcome and made into allies to become your guardians. They will preserve your integrity and not allow you to bargain it away for your survival.
In her book, Sacred Contracts, Caroline Myss compares these four archetypes to a table’s four legs. The table legs represent your relationship to the ground beneath your feet and to the universal energy that supports your life. They need to be stable to support the weight of the tabletop—our life and mission.
Despite the connotation of their names, the four survival archetypes are neutral and are the intimate companions of your intuition.
The Child archetype resides in everyone and is the first archetype you identify. Therefore it is your beginning point. This archetype sets up our earliest perceptions of life, safety, loyalty, and family, and its core issue is dependency and responsibility.
Its many aspects include the Wounded Child, the Abandoned or Orphan Child, the Dependent Child, the Innocent Child, the Nature Child, and the Divine Child.
Regardless of which aspect of the Child you relate to most intimately, this archetypal pattern brings you to meet your guardian of innocence. The Child helps heal, repair, and teach you what you need to care for in yourself.
In the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy—the Child archetype and looks for attention as she struggles to be heard and recognized by the adults (the child seeking self-authority, responsibility).
The Saboteur archetype, neutral energy within you, makes itself known mostly through disruptions, and its purpose is to help you learn the many ways you undermine yourself. The Saboteur’s fears and issues are all related to low self-esteem that causes you to make choices that block your own empowerment and success.
You can silence the Saboteur with acts of courage and by following your intuition. This is done through gut instincts that direct you to take action based on hunches rather than logic. To learn to experience that voice, you must respond to it. Start with making small choices.
The Saboteur’s core issue is fear of inviting change into your life, a change that requires responding positively to opportunities to shape and deepen your spirit. The choice to respond to an inner voice that directs you to pursue your spiritual life is obviously one that can rearrange your familiar world.
The Scarecrow—the Saboteur, points in one direction and then another because he can’t make up his mind. He is stuck on a pole and announces that he’s a failure because he hasn’t got a brain. This is the Saboteur in the shadow aspect.
The Prostitute archetype, although not thought of in kindly terms, is also neutral energy within you. We learn the great gift of never again compromising our body, mind, or spirit from this archetype. The Prostitute comes into play when our survival is threatened.
Its core issue is how much you are willing to sell of yourself—your morals, your integrity, your intellect, your word, your body, or your soul—for the sake of physical security. The Prostitute archetype also dramatically embodies and tests the power of faith. If you have faith, no one can buy you.
Confronting the
Prostitute within you transforms this archetype into your guardian. It will watch over your relationship to faith by awakening you to situations where you must decide to “take up your bed and walk,” and lasting transformation can occur.
The Tin Man—the Prostitute—is standing alone in a forest, frozen and unable to speak. The Tin Man complains that he hasn’t got a heart and sings about how loving he would be if he had one. He could then love freely without becoming frozen in fear. The heart here is symbolic of his faith in himself.
The Victim archetype, like the other three survival archetypes, is an energy pattern that provides you with an opportunity to stand up to your fears. It may manifest the first time you don’t get what you want or need, or you’re accused or punished for something you didn’t do.
The victim’s core issue is whether it’s worth giving up your own sense of empowerment to avoid taking responsibility for your independence. Its primary objective is to develop self-esteem and personal power. When you’re in a situation where you feel threatened, take notice of that reaction physically, emotionally, and mentally. That is the intuitive voice of your inner Victim.
The Cowardly Lion becomes the Bully/Coward archetype but quickly transitions to the fourth and final Survival Archetype—the Victim. He claims he has no courage and is, therefore, always the Victim. He complains about how unbearable his life has been (seeking pity—shadow) and wants to be given courage so he can be victorious (light).
In conclusion, the Child, the Saboteur, the Victim, and the Prostitute are the intimate companions of your intuition. They make you conscious of your vulnerabilities, your fear of being victimized and allow you to see how you sabotage your dreams. These four archetypes will become your guardians, preserving your integrity and refusing to allow you to negotiate it away under any circumstances. They will allow you to become completely self-reliant; through them, you will come to see options where others see excuses.
The more conscious you can remain about the archetypal patterns influencing your behavior, the more likely your choices and lessons will be positive. If your choices are made unconsciously, and you act defensively and fearfully, you may not learn and grow as you should. Hopefully, you will learn from them.
In our journey through life, we all encounter moments when we need to mend the fabric of our existence. For me, alcohol wasn’t the root issue; it was merely a symptom. The true challenge lay within – a spiritual bankruptcy that needed addressing. It’s not just those battling addiction who require upliftment; everyone benefits from support at some point.
The divine inspiration of the 12 steps channeled through Bill W. and Dr. Bob provides a transformative path when followed sequentially. Each step aligns with a fundamental principle crucial to its effectiveness.
At the forefront is the principle of acceptance. Acknowledge your powerlessness over people, places, things, and situations. Embrace the idea that everything unfolds for a purpose, and true happiness lies in relinquishing expectations and the need to understand every twist of fate.
Consider these common scenarios in life:
Have you been betrayed by a spouse or significant other?
Are you misunderstood for something you did or said?
Have you lost someone close to you that you loved?
Were you ever unfairly terminated or fired from a job?
Have you gone through a bitter break-up or divorce?
Have you been falsely accused of something you didn’t do?
These experiences are part of life’s tapestry; while you may encounter one or more, acceptance is the key. You don’t have to like the situation, but accepting it paves the way for a smoother journey.
Take the loss of a loved one, for instance. Constantly dwelling on the unfulfilled future and seeking answers to unanswerable questions disrupts your peace. The real challenge is accepting change, not the loss itself.
Remember,You cannot change anything but yourself.
Acceptance is the first gift bestowed upon those committed to healing. It marks the beginning of your life’s transformative journey.
“And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.
When I am disturbed,
It is because I find some person, place, thing, situation —
Some fact of my life — unacceptable to me,
And I can find no serenity until I accept
That person, place, thing, or situation
As being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.
Nothing, absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake.
Until I could accept my alcoholism, I could not stay sober;
Unless I accept life completely on life’s terms,
I cannot be happy.
I need to concentrate not so much
On what needs to be changed in the world
As on what needs to be changed in me and in my attitudes.”
Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition p. 417
Are you having trouble accepting things in your life?
Shadow Work Meaning: Understanding and Integrating Your Hidden Self
To fully grasp the meaning of Shadow Work, you must first understand the shadow self. According to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, the shadow consists of the parts of ourselves that we suppress, reject, or deny—often because they don’t align with societal expectations or personal ideals. These hidden aspects don’t disappear; instead, they get buried in the unconscious mind, shaping our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in ways we may not even realize.
Many of these shadow aspects form during childhood when we learn which traits are “acceptable” and which are met with criticism or rejection. Over time, we push unwanted parts of ourselves into the background—our fears, insecurities, selfish tendencies, or unresolved emotions. However, ignoring the shadow doesn’t eliminate it; it only causes unconscious behaviors that can negatively impact our lives.
What Are Shadow Traits?
When you explore Shadow Work meaning, some shadow aspects emerge:
Selfishness
Aggressive impulses
Shame or guilt
Entitlement
Jealousy or envy
Fear of rejection or failure
Judgmental attitudes
These hidden traits often manifest in destructive behaviors, such as:
🔹 Criticizing others for traits you secretly see in yourself 🔹 Feeling entitled and acting superior to others 🔹 Judging people unfairly or harshly 🔹 Playing the victim instead of taking responsibility
When left unchecked, a suppressed shadow can contribute to emotional struggles and self-sabotage, leading to:
🚨 Addictions 🚨 Uncontrollable anger or rage 🚨 Social anxiety 🚨 Obsessive-compulsive behaviors 🚨 Depression 🚨 Self-sabotage 🚨 Limiting beliefs
The more we suppress these parts of ourselves, the more they unconsciously influence our actions, decisions, and relationships.
Shadow Work Meaning
Shadow Work meaning is the intentional process of exploring, understanding, and integrating your shadow self. It’s about facing your hidden fears, patterns, and wounds, rather than avoiding them. This inner work allows you to reclaim suppressed parts of yourself, turning unconscious behaviors into conscious choices.
At its core, true Shadow Work meaning includes:
✔️ Acknowledging your shadow self instead of ignoring it ✔️ Embracing difficult emotions and hidden fears ✔️ Healing past wounds instead of reliving them in cycles ✔️ Integrating these lessons into your conscious experience
Rather than something to fear, your shadow holds deep wisdom and untapped potential.
How to Begin Shadow Work
Shadow Work is deeply personal, and everyone’s journey will look different. However, some of the most effective methods include:
1. Mindfulness Meditation: Becoming Present with Your Shadow
Sitting in silence and stillness allows you to observe thoughts and emotions without judgment. Mindfulness Meditation is a valuable tool because it helps you develop self-awareness, making it easier to recognize shadow triggers as they arise.
2. Cultivating Self-Compassion
Shadow Work requires self-acceptance. Many people struggle with their shadow because they feel ashamed of these parts. Instead of pushing them away, practice self-compassion by acknowledging that your fears and emotions are valid and worthy of attention.
3. Journaling: An Unfiltered Window into Your Shadow
Writing out your emotions, thoughts, and insights without censorship can provide breakthroughs in self-discovery. Try stream-of-consciousness writing—allowing whatever thoughts emerge to flow onto the page without judgment.
Journal Prompts for Shadow Work:
✍️ What emotions do I avoid expressing? Why? ✍️ What traits do I judge in others that I may secretly have myself? ✍️ What fears or limiting beliefs hold me back the most? ✍️ What childhood experiences shaped my current behaviors and reactions?
Reviewing past journal entries can help reveal recurring patterns in your thinking and behavior.
Why Do Shadow Work?
You might be wondering, “Why should I do Shadow Work?”
The truth is, until you own your shadow, your shadow will own you. When you refuse to acknowledge hidden fears and insecurities, they manifest in unconscious ways, affecting your:
✅ Relationships – Repeating the same unhealthy dynamics ✅ Career & Success – Self-sabotage, procrastination, or imposter syndrome ✅ Self-Worth – Feeling undeserving or constantly seeking validation ✅ Decision-Making – Acting from fear rather than confidence
When you work with your shadow, you stop projecting your hidden wounds onto others and instead turn inward to heal and integrate these aspects.
The Hidden Gifts of Shadow Work
Shadow Work isn’t just about healing; it’s also about unlocking your potential. When properly integrated, the shadow self contains strengths that can fuel personal growth, such as:
🌟 Creativity – Repressed emotions often block creative expression 🌟 Intuition – Self-awareness enhances gut instincts and decision-making 🌟 Resilience – Facing your shadow builds inner strength and emotional stability 🌟 Self-Esteem – Accepting all aspects of yourself leads to deep self-worth
Your shadow holds powerful, untapped resources. When embraced, it becomes a source of wisdom, authenticity, and transformation.
Final Thoughts: Embrace Your Shadow, Reclaim Your Power
Shadow Work isn’t easy, but it’s one of the most profound forms of self-healing and personal growth. By exploring the hidden parts of yourself, you gain emotional clarity, resilience, and self-mastery.
🌑 Identify and work with your shadow self 🌑 Transform limiting patterns into strengths 🌑 Heal past wounds and break self-sabotaging cycles 🌑 Step into self-awareness, confidence, and emotional freedom
Don’t let hidden fears control your life. It’s time to reclaim your power.
What you resist, persists. This is a phrase I often use with my clients when teaching yoga, but it is a straightforward law, that once understood and put into practice, will change your life forever.
Would any change in your life, large or small, be something you find beneficial? Then pick one thing you struggle with and observe how you speak and think about it.
More people know what they don’t want, more than what they do want:
“I don’t want to be in debt.”
“I don’t want to be overweight.”
“I don’t want to be unhappy or sad.”
“I don’t want to look foolish in this yoga pose.”
Instead, they should say:
“I want to be financially secure.”
“I want to maintain a healthy weight.”
“I want joy and happiness in my life.”
“I want to do my best in this yoga pose.”
It is not the experience itself, whether being in debt, overweight, unhappy, or foolish looking that causes your pain and suffering, it is your resistance to the experience.
Simply by shifting your thoughts and words from what you don’t want to what you do, will create the results and change you desire. To accomplish this, however, you must make a conscious decision to reprogram your thought process. It’s a simple process, but not an easy one. I used index cards to remind me.
In 2006, when I was digging myself out of a large debt leftover from my divorce, I kept saying, “I can’t get out of debt.” Just as the Law of Magnetic Attraction states that like attracts like, my coach at the time told me I was attracting more debt.
He told me to write the affirmation – Money flows freely and abundantly to me – on an index card and carry it with me wherever I went. I let go of my resistance to the idea of attracting more debt and a magical thing happened.
I won the Power Prize Jackpot at the Borgata for $35,574!
Now I can’t guarantee you’ll have results on that scale, but I do know that when you let go of the resistance to anything, it allows things to flow to you freely and abundantly.
Know that the Universe is on your side and go with the flow!
and to the universal energy that supports your life. They need to be stable to support the weight of the tabletop—our life and mission.
