Your shadow self contains all of the parts of you that are hidden from others and often from yourself.  Nearly everyone has a shadow self.

Most of the aspects of the shadow self are unpleasant (what some people would refer to as “negative”), but some are pleasant. Pleasant aspects might be your special gifts or talents that you keep hidden to blend in and avoid attention.  For example you might be able to feel and express your emotions easily, but in your family, culture or work community, the expression of emotions is discouraged, so you suppress your natural desire to express feelings.

However, the shadow self is mainly composed of all of your suppressed unpleasant emotions, desires and feelings. It holds outdated social ideas and beliefs. It feeds on discouragement, fears and doubts and grows each time we dwell on these types of feelings.

Its powerful impact on our behaviour mostly happens at a subconscious level, and consequently we often react to situations – rather than respond with awareness. The more we become aware of our shadow selves, the less power it has over us, and as a result we make better choices, we improve our relationships with others, and we have more energy – it takes a lot of energy to resist and suppress our shadow selves.

Horses often demonstrate a common behaviour around people who hold back – keeping their shadow self under cover.  They display a glazed-over look in their eyes – as if the lights are on, but no one is home.  They are only partially present, and that is what they are mirroring – someone who is only partially present.  (Its worth noting that its not only horses that do this.  How many times have you been in conversation with someone and you feel yourself drifting off – you are probably experiencing someone who is not totally present!)

As we become aware of our shadow selves, the horses become more present, more engaging.  They help up to experience the change on a somatic level – with our body and all our senses.  Working on mindfulness with the horses is an accelerated approach to revealing our shadow selves and increase our ability to be more present, aware, and purposeful.

The Dalai Lama, Buddhist monks and some of the world’s leading neuroscientists, among others, all gather once a year at a conference to share and explore the latest discoveries in neuroplasticity: the study of how the human brain can change itself.

Until recently, the prevailing theory was that neurons in the brain didn’t regenerate, however through seminal experiments, new neurons are created in the brain every day, even in people in their 70s.  The brain can adapt, heal, and renew itself after trauma, compensate for disabilities, rewire itself to overcome dyslexia, and break cycles of depression and other challenges.

So if the mind has the potential to transform itself to this magnitude, imagine what we could achieve in our daily lives in pursuit of our highest purpose, growth, and transformation?

As scientists are learning from studies performed on Buddhist monks, it is not only the outside world that can change the brain, but so can the mind through the classic practice of mindfulness.

Mindfulness: paying attention in a particular way – on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.

Mindfulness slows us down.  We notice details.  We pay as much attention to our inner world as we do to our outer environment.  We become aware of the sensations in our bodies that give us vital information.  We observe our emotions without being consumed by them.  We don’t make judgments, but rather, use discernment (an act of perceiving; the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure) to determine what action to take – if any.  This practice if performed regularly, can rewire the brain.  Consequently, we respond to life’s situations with greater awareness and can positively influence our outer environment and what we experience.

In fact, the very situations that challenge us seem to go away simply by changing the way we think.  How we pay attention to our experiences can change our physical brain, and our entire way of being.

References

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science, Norman Doidge

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves, Sharon Begley

One fleeting thought can shift 7 half-ton animals! 

Years ago I had an epiphany!  I was facilitating an activity with a team who were tasked with moving a horse around the perimeter of the round yard while they stood in a smaller inner circle.  They could not leave their circle or touch the horse, and so they needed to work as a team to cause the horse to move without distress.  I saw everything as energy – from thought waves to arm waves!  Simply by thinking the same thought – ie. ‘the horse was going to move calmly, clockwise around the perimeter, and holding the belief that it was possible,’ the group was able to move the horse calmly, clockwise around the perimeter!

In another workshop a woman was admiring two horses standing peacefully nose to nose.  She began to think of her husband and the argument they had earlier in the week.  Instantly one horse bit the other one, who then took off and ran to a group of other horses that were blissfully relaxing, and scattered them.  After a few moments, they all settled back into their bliss.  What a great illustration of the power of our thoughts – one fleeting thought can shift 7 half-ton animals!  Imagine what sustained thought might create?

What misfortune might we be creating for our loved ones when we worry about them?  What belief is behind the thought?  The world is dangerous?  They are not capable of taking care of themselves?  Does our well-intentioned, persistent worrying thoughts create the potential for calamity?

With every thought there is a quality of vibration.  Angry thoughts pierce, loving thoughts pulsate, confusing thoughts scatter, depressing thoughts are heavy and sluggish.  This quality of vibration brings forth an experience of equivalent vibration – otherwise known as the law of attraction.  It can’t be any other way.  A lower vibrational thought such as anger or fear, cannot produce a higher vibrational experience such as joy or peace.

5 steps to re-train our minds to focus only on higher thoughts

1. Understand and fully accept that thoughts attract a similar vibration:  we reap what we sow
2. Become mindful:  make it a priority to watch your thoughts and stop judging yourself as well as others
3. Don’t beat yourself up if you catch yourself making judgments or having lower vibrational thoughts, otherwise you just generate more lower vibrational thoughts (simply treat yourself as you would a child who is trying to learn)
4. Replace any lower thought with a higher one
5. Over time, notice how lighter you are becoming and how your outer experiences are more easeful, pleasant, enjoyable…

We cannot attain a level of existence that is higher than our vibration
As our predominant thoughts become higher in vibration, we too lift our own physical vibration.  We become lighter, more content, relaxed, secure, peaceful… and continue to attract experiences that match that vibration.

Most everyone has at least some baggage.  It’s our unresolved stories, wounds, limiting beliefs, judgments, and negative emotions.

So, what’s so bad about having baggage?

• It’s heavy.  If you’ve carried it for a long, time, you don’t notice how heavy your baggage can be.
• It ties up valuable energy.  It requires energy to carry baggage.
• It keeps us from being fully present and grounded.  Baggage can keep the past ‘alive,’ or cause us to focus on the future.  Either way, we often spend too much time in our heads, analyzing, thinking, and judging.
• We don’t develop our other innate intelligences.  Our hearts and bodies also process information, however we need to be present to access this wisdom.
• It prevents us from responding authentically – in the moment.  We analyse, make assumptions, and act according to our beliefs and experiences rather than trusting our other intelligences (heart and body).
• It limits our experiences – such as relationships with others.  With baggage, we experience others through the thick lens of our beliefs and judgments.
• It limits our ability to create and express our true selves.  Baggage in the form of self-limiting beliefs prevents us from fully expressing our unique selves.
• It doesn’t ‘fit’ with who we are becoming.  Every person is on a journey to become the highest they can be, and we can’t do that if we continue to hold on our heavy baggage.

Our challenge is to unload all the baggage that does not serve us – the unresolved stories (lacking forgiveness and acceptance), the negative emotions (such as anger, resentment, anxiety, fear, jealousy…), and the beliefs arising from judgments.

The hard part is that it is all bundled up together and we cannot always tell if we are carrying baggage, and what that baggage might be.

Ways to unload baggage
Unloading baggage may seem slow at first, but after awhile you begin to notice a difference – you are lighter, happier, and life is less difficult. Meditation, non-judgment, mindfulness and being present and grounded are the constant practices for ‘travelling light.’

Practices to unload baggage
Below are two other practices to help dislodge some old baggage.

Practicing acceptance

1. Make of list of 5 people that you don’t like or have done something you don’t like (this can be anyone – such as people with high profiles, or from the past, etc…)
2. Write down what it is you don’t like about them.  (Eg, “Josh is arrogant.”)
3. Replace each sentence with “I am capable of…I have been…”  (Eg. “I am capable of being arrogant.  I have been arrogant.”)  (If someone has done something so terrible that you can’t honestly make this statement, then think of your thoughts towards that person.  For example, say a person has done something evil, and you despise them.  You might say “I am capable of being hateful.  I have been hateful.”)

This practice creates the space for acceptance and non-judgment.  Once you experience acceptance and begin to practice non-judgment, your baggage instantly becomes lighter.

Practicing forgiveness (an ancient Hawaiian practice called Hooponopono*)     

1. Accept full responsibility without apportioning blame to anyone for the actions of the person, persons or collective that is expressing negativity towards you. (Based on the awareness that we are all One, and all connected).
2. Say “I accept total responsibility for it now.” This gives you power over it.
3. Then, to your infinite Self and the Universe, say, “I love you”. That is to yourself, the universe, and the positive energy behind the creation of that which is negative.
4. Once you have expressed love, forgiveness is inevitable. Then you say, from the bottom of your heart, “please forgive me.”This sets an inevitable train of forgiveness in motion.  You know that you and even the perpetrator are forgiven. This gives you closure, and disempowers the ability of the perpetrator to express and further negativity towards you.
5. So, to yourself and the universe, say “THANK YOU” and let it go.

* The book called Zero Limits by Joe Vitale explains this ancient and effective Hawaiian practice.