Forget Positivity; Master your Dark Side Instead

Written by: Numair Qureshi

If you are repeating the same mistakes day after day, then having more mindfulness and positivity will not help you.

In fact, this may hurt you. It is like spreading icing on top of a broken cake. You're putting a bandage over the very thing you are ignoring.

Trying to become more present to the moment, expressing gratitude, smiling, and increasing your productive work output will not change how you feel on the inside.

Eventually, your Dark Side will take over, and you will become your own saboteur, and you will destroy the very things that you have worked so hard to create.

Relationship? Ruined.
Job Performance? Ruined.
Diet? Ruined.

Why do we keep destroying the very things we create?

The truth is that even though there is a part of our Identity that exists within the Persona, which is the public-facing image we present to the world, the vast majority of our Identity exists within our Shadow.

When you ignore the Shadow, hell breaks loose in your life. Your Shadow is the part of yourself that holds all your secrets, and it is the reservoir of your Curiosity.

Your curiosity exists within your Shadow. It is like "A splinter in your Mind, driving you mad" as Morpheus described it, which you cannot ignore. You can try to ignore it, but it will only continue to destroy you from the inside.

So, how exactly do you listen to your Shadow? You do it by listening. Start there. Listen to your Curiosity. Did you have a dream when you were growing up that you ignored? Are there feelings inside yourself that you have not yet expressed? Are there childhood traumas that you have left unresolved? Are there certain things that trigger you in ways that most people wouldn't be triggered? Do you have an unhealthy reaction or response to these triggers?

The Shadow contains the good and the bad, and you must come to terms to all of it. Your consciousness is the light that will allow you to release all the energy trapped within your psyche. By becoming observant of that which exists within you, but no longer running from it, by analyzing the narrative within your Shadow, you are finally able to free yourself and Integrate your Shadow into waking life.

No longer ignored, your Shadow gets to finally work alongside you and it empowers you to finally become the master of your dark side. It is only at this moment that you will stop self-sabotaging your efforts, and you will finally grow an in integrated way.

This is how you create the most powerful Identity.

Now, I want to hear from you: What have you been ignoring about yourself? How are you going to start listening to your Shadow and integrate it into your Identity? Comment below.