Meeting the Collective Shadow: Tips for Staying Well in a Changing World

Without a doubt, we are living in a changing and sometimes, turbulent world. Even if you have fixed your own life (as many of you out there, have), you are likely to notice an uptick in chaotic seeming situations ‘emerging’ to get handled and people melting down. This is all part of the burnoff in the ‘chaos to creation’ transition’ I have been mentioning. It will be happening off and on for a while.

This is because ..dun dun Dahhhhh we are dealing with healing the collective shadow. This is what it is like to live through a turning of the Ages. This is a process that has ebbs and flows. At this time, we are about a month into some global shadow work. During these phases, we should not be surprised to see the kicking, fear mongering, and distraction attempts that had been the status quo of how we lived before come up. What we should be, by this point, is smart enough to not let the people in that state drag us (and our world) down.

I wanted to write this article for 2 reasons.

The first is to acknowledge that shadow work is hard and can wear you down. The second is to share some proactive information that you can apply to your own life to keep things functioning smoothly.

As a psychopomp, I am crazy enough to do shadow work for our Earth and collectives voluntarily.  You have heard bits of that over the years! As you remember that work brings me face to face with the worst of the worst. Yet I am happy, healthy, and doing great! The secret? Some of them are the very tips I am going to put in this article right here. Stated honestly, the shadow can wear a person out. I do not want you to get worn out because….

At the same time that all of these weird emotions and societal conditions are being exposed, so too are we experiencing the equivalent of energetic spring (in winter). There are lilacs blooming in my ceremony space. There is a freshness. There is a quietness, a peace, and a sense that things are finally working out. Even for those of us who are in the ‘quiet good’ place, there is still the whiz and whir of an entire world order falling down. This will be going on for a while and in stints of more and less intensity as we go. Getting strong boundaries and your own wellness plan in tact is a big part of how you stay in a good space during what may be some very strange times.

What is the shadow? A simple definition.

Keeping things simple for this article, I define ‘shadow’ as that which is unloved, misunderstood, or unseen. In this sense, shadow in itself is not a ‘bad’ thing. In fact, people are sometimes surprised at how easy it is to resolve their inner unloved bits. It can be as simple as making contact with their inner child or actually listening to soul call. There are certainly more unfriendly aspects of shadow. This is the part where lies, manipulation, fabrication, and the dark underbelly exists. It is the realm of the Order of Chaos. This is the one I work on healing the world from and the one that is going crazy right now. (Click this text to be taken to a YouTube video called ‘Chaos to Creation YouTube video outlining the world collapse/rebirth that we are living through.) For a long time, a lot of our planet was operating in shadow. Right now, we are in the process of dealing with both. Is every person who is going to read this article going through healing a shadow part? Nope. Though just about every person is going to be present as parts of it are exposed as we go about our daily lives in this world.

How do you see it? 

Shadow dynamics can show up in your own life through interactions you experience personally that relate to your inner world. For example, over the last few weeks, you likely noticed an uptick in seeing things about yourself that had been holding you back or how you had been doing that for others. There could be instances where you are facing family trauma, an old painful pattern from the past emerged, or simply you are feeling extra sad and angry and have no idea why. Now you know why! There comes a limit of what you can carry with you and perhaps you have met yours.

You also likely have noticed shadow showing up in the world around you. You do not always have to have something ‘wrong’ with you to see or be exposed to the shadow. Many people out there have done inner healing work. They are likely feeling pretty great and enjoying their lives in the world. This type of person is more apt to be exposed to ‘shadow’ at work, school, or forced social relationships like being on a ‘team’ with someone else. These are the moments where your leisure, peace, or success may crash up against someone else in their darkness. Perhaps an unhealthy chain of communication started up lately or that deviant ‘teammate’ is acting more like a wrench in a cog than a healthy part of the wheel.

While shadow is certainly something to have boundaries with *and we acknowledge that in this article* ultimately, it is also not something to run away from. Meeting sad or unloved parts of yourself or acknowledging things you did wrong in the past is a positive thing. Embrace the lessons that come with that, let go of the negative behaviour patterns and be strong enough to build good habits into new moments. 

The Big Four of Facing Shadow

These are some top things to keep in mind when you are meeting the shadow bits. 

• Be courageous enough to face the underbelly of your life, society, the spiritual realms (depending on what your focus is) without getting sucked into a terror loop. That is basically like doom scrolling, but in your brain.

• Keep doing things that are positive and support your well-being. Exercise, fun with friends and family, reading book, being creative, going to nature and getting in touch with yourself are all great ways to stay inspired and feeling love. Follow your dreams. Invest in yourself and the relationships you care about.

• When things come up, deal with them as best you can. Hold your difficult emotions, experience the discomfort if there is any, and do your best to find a path through that is based on self-love and doing the right thing as opposed to fear or hate. If you are a parent or partner, remember that your people may also be going through these things and offer them grace. These moments are some of the best because they become path creating ones where you get to begin to define your new response. 

• If you happen to meet a person who is seeking to offload their shadow on you and you do not want to deal with it (and have not created the situation and thus ‘earned it’), use hard boundaries. Do not feel guilty about it. Every moment that you are spending on someone else having a melt-down is one that you are not allowing yourself to get out there and have another more positive life experience. *What you will find is that, when given space to deal with their own issues, a lot of people will emerge better people. Give the load back to others and trust that they are strong enough to heal.*

A note on boundaries

Some people do not handle shadow well. In fact, you may have noticed some people on social media, in the workplace, and at school acting in ways that seem almost cartoonish or like a caricature of a ‘bad thing’. You get the gossiping PTA parent trying to manipulate a group, the completely unnecessary time-consuming ‘problem’ that you could get sucked into, or the angry person trying to cause a fight on social media or in public. For now, these people are repeating their patterns. Guess what? You have the option to OPT OUT.  You are not under any obligation to hold space for other people repeating their negative, harmful behaviours. Nor do you have to bear witness to it. There are certain storms that we may choose to weather with others. It is important to always remember that a) we have a choice and b) that once we have moved on and healed in ourselves, the #1 place we get dragged down is by who and what we permit into our lives.

Having defined shadow and given some basic suggestions on boundaries and mindfulness, let us focus on the most important part of the article. How to maintain your well-being.

How to Maintain Your Well-Being During Global Shadow Work

We are in a changing world that is going to continue changing. This is where all the things I teach about energy management in daily life start to make the most sense. Those of us who have things like what I am going to mention here in place are riding a much different wave than the people living in dumpster fire chaos land. Though we are well aware of what is happening (and some of us participate in them professionally), we are also aware of the blossoming. We are experiencing the sweetness of spring in autumn. At the very least, we (and our children to whom we have taught these skills) are able to stay grounded and positive while we live through what it is to live through right now.

This is a short list of list of positive ways to ground and maintain your energy for wellness and self-connection:

• Get outside in places where you can be by trees, running water, and animals. This is good medicine that will help you do auric field and energy body maintenance, help you slow down your thoughts, get you connected more closely to Creator (the one who made nature and us) AND it is good to move about. A little adventure to a nice park, on a canal, or to a trail is a positive way to stay grounded and connected on all the levels.

• Get off certain parts of the internet. Not only are they psychologically damaging, so too can they be spiritually dangerous. There is a lot of hatred and threats being expressed. You do not need to expose yourself to parts that are populated with that. You may like to take a social media rest, time yourself so that you are not doom scrolling, and adjust your newsfeeds, as necessary.

• Get a book or two to read. When you feel that you would like to ‘get information’ and may reach for the phone, grab that book instead. Even better? Take it somewhere cozy to read like a nook in your home, a park, a library, or a coffee shop.  

• For me, this is #1 on the list. Do daily energy alignment in the morning to get ready for the day and after you get home (or disconnect from your home-based work). You are engaging with people physically and digitally who are moving through a lot of things. It is easier than you may think to get weighted down by energy you do not even clock as being there.  When this happens, we become cranky for no reason, losing our passion, and being ‘too tired’ or ‘socially spent’ from work to do things we love with people we care about. We get robbed of the best parts of our lives. Nobody wants that, yet this is where so many people are. 
   

         – Daily energy alignment helps you stay in your own energy; as I teach it and do it, it also helps you make the most of each day by getting you in tune with your own spiritual self, sacred connection, and goals for focus.

• If you experience a damaging incident with another person, do your best to remedy it. See it for what it is. If you have to get out, get out. Do an energy alignment after because these little incidents wind up bleeding things into your auric field that can attract more of them. (Ever notice that string of people doing the repeat behavior around you that you cannot explain? This is why.)

The more that you take care of the above steps, the higher probability that you will be able to act in any difficult situation that may arise with wisdom, grace, and patience. 

How We Manage Our Energy (or Not) Impacts our Quality of Life Experience

I have said it once, I will say it again. Energy is everywhere. How we manage ours (or not) is a huge determinant in our quality of life and state of emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing. This has been the topic for other ‘energy management’ articles published in this library. One of the key things that should be coming up with this article is that ‘energy management’ is not always about sitting around and contemplating you. One of the very best bits of energy management is that it helps you repel the negativity and mitigate the impact of what you experience through other people in your life. This layer of mindfulness helps you stay strong and in your own stead, no matter what types of craziness you deal with from family, clients, work, school, or your friends. This is why I teach people these skills at my school and work with them as clients on it in private session.

How to Build the Skills to Become “Spiritually Uneffwithable”

How do you build these skills? Find someone like me who teaches them and come learn from us. I care about this topic so much that I made a self-access online course about it called ‘How to be Spiritually Uneffwithable’. This is a high-impact, to the point set of learning modules that guides you through developing the skills to maintain your energetic wellness. Upbeat and targeted at life improvement, this is not a course about ‘how to deal with shadow’. It is designed specifically for people who are seeking simple ways to build in energy management and self-care into their lives so that they can be more resilient, targeted, and successful this course is a gem. *Link to purchase and coupon if you need it in this section highlighted in teal and purple – I want to tell you a little more about it first**

• How to be spiritually uneffwithable is designed to be engaged over 3-4 months. You can put as little as 20 minutes a week into it to as much as 20 minutes a day. It comes with video guidance, little energy alignments that you can do on yourself (perfect for repairing after dealing with shadow) and also, some tools for how to proactively move through drastically changing times like we are right now.

• You get a boutique, private student learning experience. You do not have to be exposed to anyone else, you maintain your anonymity and bonus. You are learning from someone who you already know and like enough to read the article this far – me!

Heads up: though it does speak about metaphysical principles, this is not a ‘New Age’ course. It is about learning practical ways to bring metaphysical awareness to your everyday life. Main clients for this course to date have been lawyers, counsellors, people in the business world, and well-being practitioners looking to amp up their self-care.

Get your copy and become a little more uneffwithable, today by clicking this text which is also a link directly to my school and the check out page

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