thoughts, words, deeds

bringing light to the shadows

“Take everything that’s bright and beautiful in you and introduce it to the shadow side of yourself.” Parker Palmer
How can a person do this? Can you give an example, and do you agree this would work to make the world a better place?

Inside everyone there are secret places—places that we don’t like to look at because they don’t fit the person that we like to show to the world. There, in the shadows, are the little jabs we give our friends, the envying, the wrath—I find myself going to the seven deadly sins, and there’s some truth to that. Now, I don’t say that we ever act on those impulses. Some people are able to control that part of them so well that it looks from the outside as though it doesn’t exist. But we, who live inside our heads, we know better.

So, this is an interesting thought. To take the things that are bright and beautiful and introduce them to the shadow—that makes it seem as though it’s a way to make us better, to shed light upon our darker impulses by sharing the light.

I don’t know if I think that would work. It sounds interesting in general, but when I try to look at specifics in my own life, I can’t think of an example that would work. Introducing light makes the shadow flee without eradicating it. Or maybe it makes them less by making me think about the places in my head and heart that need brightening, cleaning up. Where do I need work? And I think that a greater sense of self awareness would actually brighten the world. After all, all change needs to start at the individual level.