[1]So, what is your shadow? Allan Kaplan refers to the shadow as that thing or energy that arises when we have too much or too little of something or strive too much or too little towards something. He says: “When we direct our energies in too focused a fashion, a balance is lost; yet life strives towards balance.”[2] For example, you are fiercely fighting against poverty but you are poor in other respects, e.g. relationships with other people, don’t look after yourself, mental poverty, etc. You start to romanticise poverty. I once worked with a health institute caring for sick people but internally the relationships were very sick. It was a sickness that pervaded the institute. Remember, the more you strive for something the more its opposite will appear. The sharper the light of consciousness the more intense is the darkness of the subconscious. Where you have high peaks you also find deep valleys.  Where you have strengths you also have weaknesses, Your shadow is not necessarily a negative or destructive phenomena. It is when you deny this shadow that it is invested with destructive energy. You lose control over it and it starts to control you. So, how do you approach your shadow? Don’t fight it. Make it your friend, your ally. Be aware of it. Embrace it and integrate it. When you push it away then you live in denial. Then it will haunt you, control and ultimately destroy you!

[1] Robert A. Johnson (1993) Owning your Own Shadow
[2] Allan Kaplan (2002) Development Practitioners – Artists of the Invisible, chapter 11