This article was inspired by Shadow Selves: What Kind Of Monster Are You?
Understand how we repress certain parts of our personality, which can prevent our ability to grow. Understand your shadow self so you can ensure self-growth and self-love.
According to Carl Jung, if you consider yourself to be a good person, you are horribly mistaken. All of us harbor different monsters within us. However, despite the impact of these monsters, we rarely, if ever, acknowledge them at all.
All of us have demons within us, sometimes we catch a fleeting glimpse, other times full frontal chaos. Despite all this, most of us still ignore their existence in our effort to delude none but our own selves.
We do this mostly due to the demonization of anything that might seem to be deviating from the norm and resulting guilt, fear, and pure shame.
We don’t have a single absolute personality, but rather a dynamic persona that changes based on our environment and its stimulus.
So, essentially, behind the persona we put up, there is our shadow side, an impulsive, depressed, wounded, and most of the times repressed and isolated side. Meaning, we are literally choosing not to acknowledge half of what or who we really are. And doing so is the only route towards a fulfilling and authentic life.
So, as with everything else, to experience what an authentic and complete life is like, we must be able to become conscious about nature or even the personality of our monsters or shadow selves. Acquainting ourselves without darker aspects is the only way to allow healing on the damage done by the repression and, eventually, facilitate progress towards self-harmony.
One of the most important things one must do in order to live, is to love oneself. The willingness and the ability to love ourselves only comes when we have understood all of the darker aspects of our being and embrace them. This allows us to develop self-awareness, leading towards self-acceptance and self-love.
Most of the articles on shadow self are in essence a continuation of each other. For example, this article simply aims to increase your level of self-awareness.
If you need more information, look for more articles on shadow self to understand the various other dynamics of our darker sides.
Our Different Types of Monsters
One’s darker side can present itself in many different monstrous forms. Some of these forms will be ferocious, while others might not even seem that monstrous at all.
The following is a list of different forms our darker side can take due to repression. While some may indeed overlap each other, that is because all of them are in some way interconnected with each other.
For example, all of them are negatively associated by the person, hence the name “shadow self.”
Before we can continue, let us understand that a person can have more than one monster at the same time.
1. An Inflated Ego
People with an egotistical monster inside tend to be extremely arrogant, egocentric, inconsiderate, self-indulgent, and have excessive pride.
2. Neurotic Behavior
Such people display significant amounts of dysfunctional paranoia, suspiciousness, possessiveness, are extremely demanding and display a compulsive behavior.
3. Untrustworthy
The untrustworthy monster displays impulsive, secretive, irresponsible, frivolous, and deceitful tendencies.
4. Emotional Wreck
People who are emotionally unstable tend to be extremely moody, weepy, melodramatic, impulsive, over emotional, and easily influenced.
5. Dominating and Controlling
I am sure everyone must have encountered the controllers, suspicious, possessive, jealous, obsessive and bossy people.
6. The Perpetual Cynics
The cynical monsters are simply and overly critical, completely negative, patronizing, and resentful.
7. Wrathful
The wrathful monster can strike terror into the hearts of strongest of men, exhibiting the following characteristics: quick-tempered, vengeful, ruthless, and angry.
8. The Stubborn Monster
A rigid person would be needlessly upright and completely intolerant, while being completely uncompromising and narrow-minded.
9. Superficial and Glib
Such monsters are incredibly superficial, cunning, and crafty.
10. Unnaturally Composed
People who are unnaturally composed (or the nonchalant monsters) are those who are emotionally detached and indifferent to most situations.
11. The Fearful Monster
Some people experience much more fear than others, hence, they have a cowardly monster within them making them weak-willed, timid, passive, and fearful.
12. The Mindless Monster
Some people just seem inherently puerile and childish. Most of what they speak seems illogical, immature, vacuous, and simpleminded.
Warding off our Monsters
The only way to achieve harmony in our lives is to face our shadow selves. This can only be done by consciously embracing these repressed aspects of our personalities.
This is the path towards evolution or involution that leads towards self-consciousness. This means a person must spend time on introspection, trying to understand their monsters.
The understanding of your own monster is your self-awareness. Involve all of the important people in your life and ask them about your greatest personality faults. Ensure that when you look at yourself, you don’t view yourself in a negative light; instead, be compassionate rather than a prosecutor or judge.
Remember, if we stop changing, we effectively stop growing and, if we stop growing, then we aren’t really living, are we?
This article was inspired by Shadow Selves: What Kind Of Monster Are You?, which was written Aletheia Luna. She is the co-founder, editor and author of popular spiritual website LonerWolf.com. As a transformational mentor and holistic writer, she has helped to guide thousands of people throughout the world on their paths of self-acceptance and wholeness. You can follow her work and private updates on Facebook.
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