Discover Your Shadow: The Key to Becoming a Better Version of Yourself

The Shadow According to Carl Jung: Understanding Our Hidden Side

Carl Jung, the famous Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, introduced the concept of the "Shadow" to describe the repressed and unconscious aspects of our personality. This part of us includes thoughts, behaviors, and impulses we consider unacceptable or shameful. Instead of confronting them, we suppress them, pushing them into our unconscious. However, ignoring this shadow can negatively influence our actions, often without us realizing it.

Why Our Brain Forgets Our Negative Behaviors

Our brain tends to retain memories associated with positive emotions and suppress those linked to negative emotions. This mechanism helps preserve our mental well-being but also prevents us from recognizing our harmful actions. As a result, we often perceive ourselves as better people than we truly are. This illusion of moral integrity hinders our ability to improve.

The Method to Confront Your Shadow and Grow

To break this cycle and become a better version of ourselves, a simple yet powerful solution exists: documenting our negative behaviors. This can be done by recording audio or keeping a journal where we note each moment we acted inappropriately or caused negative emotions in others. This includes situations such as:

- Being cold or distant with someone
- Failing to greet someone
- Forgetting a name
- Not keeping a commitment
- Arriving late

By making this a daily habit and revisiting these notes after a month or more, we often uncover unsuspected behavior patterns. This self-reflection allows us to understand the root causes of our attitudes and, most importantly, realize how much less exemplary we can be than we thought.

A Path to a Better Version of Yourself

Recognizing and accepting our Shadow is not an easy process, but it is an essential step toward personal growth. By facing our negative behaviors and striving to understand them, we empower ourselves to evolve. This honest introspection paves the way for more authentic relationships and a more fulfilling life.

Dare to explore your Shadow and transform your weaknesses into strengths. Change begins with awareness.