moon shadow musings…
How do we integrate our shadow and accept all of ourselves and the world?
It was my own shadow on a walk on a sand dune that scared the living daylights out of me (what a great phrase)... It made me jump out of my skin (another great phrase) and got me thinking about embracing the shadow self, and all the messiness and ugliness of that.
DRIFT - Long shadow on the dunes
It started because I was mad my husband had walked alone in the sand dunes in the dark with his camera, and when I set off to do the same, I suddenly got scared and started overthinking it. There could be someone hiding in the bushes… and there could! I felt it was unjust that I couldn’t just wonder freely at night. I then turned around and jumped at the sight of my own shadow! The mind is very powerful.
It was around a full moon and we were in Fuerte Ventura. I was feeling everything very intensely, all the things, all at once… All my unclaimed dreams, my resentments and jealousies rose to the top, a few ‘life’s not fair’ feelings about things that were happening. I needed a good cry and also a good laugh at myself, and the ridiculousness of how I had gotten caught up in a very negative thought train… Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. I needed to let it all go!
The next week on the beach my kids noticed their own shadows and asked me what they were. I explained and then we had a day of shouts of ‘shadow', ‘shadow' as they chased them on the beach with squeals of laughter and joy. They couldn’t escape them and found this hilarious.
It made me think a lot about life and the polarities of the light and the dark. Sometimes we feel so much joy and other times our hearts break open.
DRIFT - Jude’s shadow on the sand
DRIFT - Etta meets her little shadow
We can only really be whole and truthfully in our integrity when we embrace our own shadows. I find this hard. I am mainly a positive person. I like to look on the bright side of life, but sometimes it feels so much, and I get worried for the future. Especially now I have little ones and think about what the future will look like for them.
My main take away from it was that we do have to embrace the shadow and face the fears and the dark, and then we go on and we must rise. We must believe in good and our own power to make change, whether that is on a personal level, or a bigger level. That is all that ever changes anything… the belief that it is possible to start with. We have short lives in the scheme of things and we need to not be afraid of our own shadows or the darkness and the polarities of life. We have to be brave and strong and always work towards the greatest good.
MOON Reflections