It’s very simple – because we resist our dark side.
What’s our dark side?
It’s those aspects in us that we unconsciously believe to make us unviable.
Therefore we suppress and deny them at all costs – we are mostly unaware of that dynamic. That’s how much we resist it.
Our dark side is NOT a monster.
It’s simple things such as negativity, fulfilling one’s needs, being perceived bad, failure, emotions, rejection, intimacy, being normal, authority, commitment, vulnerability, conflict, anger or imperfection.
Paradoxically – or logically – we give them our power by resisting these aspects. Because, if we didn’t identify with them, we would not need to deny them.
As a result, instead of living our life, we live the pale shadow of who we are. A life dedicated to compensating for these unwanted aspects by achieving or upholding ideals such as achievement, perfection, sacrifice, power, control, purity, salvation, dogma etc.
That’s how we validate and create our experience of unworthiness, incapability, imperfection, powerlessness, not being good enough, unsafety, mistrust, lack of control etc. We create our own suffering.
It’s not the circumstances; it’s not someone out there. It’s simply the resistance to ourselves.
There is nothing wrong with you. Who we are is whole already. Unaffected by experience.
So time to give up your resistance to yourself. That’s when you become whole. And alive How wonderful that is!!
PS: A cayman from the Amazon rainforest representing our sweet shadow. Photo credits IG @ajwhites