Are you looking for advanced shadow work prompts?
Before we get started, let’s quickly go over a few things.
What is Shadow Self & Shadow Work?
Your shadow self, or shadow, is the side of yourself you have no awareness of. It holds all the qualities you disowned during your formative years.
Although you learned to repress these qualities to push them outside of your awareness, they are still living underneath the surface.
They unconsciously guide your actions and are the unseen cause for many of the troubles in your life.
Shadow work is the intentional practice of becoming aware of your unconscious shadow and integrating these neglected qualities into your being—becoming whole.
This is a process of building self-awareness, self-acceptance, and universal Love.
By doing so, you are able to direct your personal will—and the more powerful unconscious will—to help deliberately shift your life’s circumstances.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
What are shadow work prompts?
Shadow work prompts are a popular method of doing shadow work, where you journal and self-reflect on a set of introspective questions.
By putting your emotions and thoughts into words, you are “feeling” through and processing your past experiences.
These prompts help you work through your triggers, heal your inner child, gain perspective, build emotional maturity, and so on.
How to do Shadow Work Journal Prompts
The purpose of shadow work journal prompts is to try and reach the deepest truths about yourself, even if it goes against what you’d normally expect.
This means you need to trust that you are able to tap into your inner resources to bring these answers to the surface.
The best way to do this is to go someplace in solitude that is quiet enough to hear yourself think.
Sit down and take all the time you need to answer the question.
Sometimes the answer will come very easily. At other times, writing any meaningful response will seem impossible.
When this happens, you will need to rely on your instincts to fill the page.
Instinctual writing means you will give yourself permission to “let your hand think faster than your head”.
Put the pen on the paper (or hands on the keyboard) and let the words mindlessly flow out of your fingers.
The result may reveal something you didn’t know about yourself.
This is similar to using the active imagination technique through art.
For example, a patient is given paint brush and an empty canvas. Without any prior idea of what to paint, the patient starts painting and lets the unconscious express itself through the patient’s hands.
The result is a painting that reveals a symbolic commentary by the unconscious mind.
You will know you’ve reached your deepest truths when you feel sensations within your body.
This is because the truth is sensational and the words you have written resonate with you deeply.
However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows.
People who are new to shadow work can get emotional since they haven’t come to terms with their other half.
If you get emotional or have any surprising sensations, be sure to feel them through.
Remember, this is a process of building self-awareness, compassion, understanding, and self-love.
9 ADVANCED Shadow Work Prompts
Shadow Work Prompts for Healing the Inner Child
1 – Imagine today you were dying. While you’re laying on your deathbed, one parent enters the room and holds your hand as you tell them some last words in private. Write down what you would tell both your mother or your father one-on-one.
2 – Write a letter to your child self apologizing for how you weren’t there when they needed you. Give your inner child the loving reassurance and understanding you feel you really needed back then.
3 – Write out all the ways you are able to take care of, and stand up for yourself. Then write out all the ways you don’t need your parents to take care of you. Do this until you come into terms with not having the parents you wanted and needed, and now that you are an adult, never will.
Shadow Work Prompts for Self-Love
1 – List out 10 things you currently don’t like about your life. Now write “I love” in front of each thing you’ve listed. Read it aloud and pretend that you mean it when you say “I love [something you don’t like about your life]”.
2 – Write down something that people do that really bothers you. In one word, describe what that something is. In big letters, write “Deep down, I am [quality you don’t like]!”. Keep rewriting this until you feel a sensation in your body.
3 – Write down how you believe other people see you, whether positive or negative. Next write why you believe people see you this way. Finally write whether you believe this is how others see you or if this is how you see yourself.
Shadow Work Prompts for Relationships
1 – Pick a person who you spend a lot of time with. Write down every judgment you’ve made about this person, good and bad. Next write an honest rating of how that person makes you feel on a scale of 1 to 5. Should you allow this person to stay in your life – yes or no?
2 – Write about a time where you felt betrayed by someone you knew. Next write about why you expected them to not betray you. Finally write how you believe you were entitled to these expectations.
3 – Write out a quality that you dislike about your current partner. List out all the times you’ve seen this quality in your current partner and past partners. Finally, look back at your childhood and write out why you suspect that you attract this quality.
Check out the Shadow Work Journal!
The Shadow Work Journal: 240 Daily Shadow Work Prompts contains the following:
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Relationships
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Anger
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Anxiety
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Self-Love
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Healing Trauma
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Abandonment Issues (Codependency)
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Depression
- 30 Shadow Work Prompts for Forgiveness (Letting Go)
Click here to get your Shadow Work Journal Today!
