The Master of your Boredom and Discontent.

Have you met your Shadow today?

You know that twin within, you kind of like but not that much? They are annoying most of the time; if not downright obnoxious....

You recognise them when you meet them.

If you want to precipitate this encounter, the best place to look for them is in a court of law which fails to do you justice or otherwise, in joint first position: the closet of best kept family secrets. These are handed down to feed the Shadow its substance.

Know also, that there is no better lighter but firmer stuffing (you'll never feel the strain upon your shoulders) to bulk up the shadow, than the betrayal of a parent. One might well ask what such betrayal constitutes. Good question. You may have to chew on that like on a chiclet for a while, till that fresh flavour for rancour wears off and you realise we can only look at it from a soul perspective, which only comes in the flavour of your own seasoning.

In sum, (and I recommend all parents leave the room for this) any parent who doesn’t recognise the invitation it sent out to you and appreciates the honor or accepts the burden of your arrival (both are excellent fibre to promote the smooth inner movements of the soul, as seen objectively; it's all an aid to mobilisation), they fundmentally betray you: so who of you has not been betrayed? (Hence the majority of us regular Steemians have a nice cuddly Shadow by the time we leave home).

Shadow-Boxing

Know above all, that your love-life depends on what you do regards your Shadow. If you are in need of little help understanding and managing your Shadow, you are likely to meet a partner that will do precisely that: jab at your shadow. That's okay: it's a fair fight. Watch out, in fact, when they start pulling their punches though....

It will make for an exciting (ok, also exhausting) time. How many rounds of Shadow-boxing are you up for before you throw your towel in the ring? Perhaps, the winner takes all, or both end up pretty damaged, but still, if jealousy and anger are tamed through this work-out, it will have made for a life on a courageous karmic path (if not for an ideal love-couple).

At 50+ (midlife) the light (that mental spotlight that hates to be wrong) grows dimmer

and the Shadow stops harrassing you for this that and the other, a lot less (exhaustively). The bad news is that you could have set in your agreements with them already. They may bug you at your work but not during the time you put your feet up with a bottle of Rioja or Jack Daniels. The better news would be that you are fed up with being bullied into feeling emotional about things outside your control; or quite frankly: causing a rumpus about stuff you could never do a thing about to change anyway. It simply is not your place to end poverty and you either collect for the Michael J. Fox Foundation because you like to or you don’t. There is nothing more to it. One day you find yourself tired of needing to matter; you are fed up with self-importance; and self-gratification simply bores you.

^{photo from video mentioned below}

Shadow Talk

The Shadow is keen to make you want to alter all that is not nice and comfortable and under your easy control. Why on earth make life difficult for yourself? Why on earth suffer? Why on earth even be earthed? Are you a light fixture?! Be free and slide across the walls in the play of gloom and twillight! Slip under doors and press your nose up against the wall that is your back. Sounds like the Shadow is on your side, like a right BFF, doesn't it? What's not to like and do away with in a hurry? Take them on holidays, by all means; they are great bar-flys and tremendous divers from the highest plank unless you prefer to float in a pod and tap into your "unicorn-chakra".

Sure thing, the Shadow makes for s a trusty, life-long companion when the going gets rough and the tougher than you have already left the building. Slowly does it, they will say, no point rushing to break your neck now, is there? Or otherwise they’ll say, even it it costs you your neck, stick it out and rage, rage, rage into the dying night (night is such a killer for the Shadow, who cannot compete with the monsters under the bed). It’s a bit unpredictable what they’ll say next. It often depends, largely, on what you had for breakfast….

Shadow-Work

Whenever you have a minute on your hands when your friend won’t come out to play, or your mother tells you to sit on the naughty step, or your hardcore readership on Steemit is slackening, hear your trusty Shadow whisper: never mind, don’t feel bored, rejected, ignored, misunderstood, under-rated; let’s plot vengeance and make you feel the slings and arrows of your great misfortune! (Yes, you read this correctly if it reads like you will be the only victim of your plan!) Then know you have a choice to give your Shadow the time of day or to mellow and be mild, which is like a glow from all the pores of your soul lighting up your inner self.

This is to dispell the Shadow and enjoy the silence of Real Peace once more. Like sitting on the stone threshold of your front door, with your knobbly knees drawn up, hugging them and mumbling like your favorite Moomin character to yourself as you count the tiny pebbles in the gravel, sure you could count them all if only you had a life time of such childlike boredom.

Apparently I am a Snufkin. Take the Moomin Character test for yourself here

---

Read about all the nine facets of working with the Shadow in this book. Check out this link for a summary of the contents. A special touch to this work is how the authors free up the basic psychology with the use of imagery from Greek myth.

---

Tip of the Day:

A great exercise to train the Shadow to be a humbler sod (while you are waiting for it to decrease so that you might increase) – aside from diet, exercise and meditation, is learning to pronounce Lithuanian’s longest word (unless you are Lithuanian, I guess):
nebeprisikiškiakopūsteliaudavome (it means: "we haven’t been gathering enough wood sorrels"). A smart Shadow will say, stuff that; just show me where the wood sorrels are and be done with it. A cleverer little smithy-tailor-carpenter of Real Self you will go here for a little help. (unless they change the pronounciation feature daily, then you are out of luck because neither Google Translate nor Windows Translate will pronounce any Lithuanian for you at all - plus they call wood sorrel crazy anyway).

---

Photo credit at top.