Are you wondering what are the benefits of shadow work?

When I first got into learning about the shadow self I was very skeptical.

But after doing lots of research and shadow work myself, I’ve come up with a list of hidden benefits of doing shadow work.

Before we get started, let’s make sure you understand a few basic things.

What is the Shadow & Shadow Work?

The shadow is the side of yourself that’s disconnected and unfelt. It’s the part of yourself that’s been rejected since childhood and you have no awareness of.

Shadow Work is integrating the entire spectrum of your being. It’s the intentional process of admitting the parts of yourself you’ve ignored and repressed.

When you perform shadow work, you will experience all of the following benefits:

9 Hidden Benefits of Shadow Work

Healthy Relationships

As a child, you learn to act a certain way to get your parents’ validation. Through these actions and behaviors, you’ve developed an unconscious belief of your personal position in life.

A lot of these unconscious beliefs get carried into adulthood and become the basis of all unhealthy relationships that you have.

Until you do Shadow Work and integrate your shadow self into your being, you will continue to live out the existential position that you’ve adopted during your younger years.

When you approach life from a faulty worldview, you’re almost incapable of having any healthy relationships.

Now, this sort of thing isn’t your fault, but it is your responsibility.

Through shadow work, you become more aware of these underlying beliefs that you live out.

By becoming aware you can actually change how you behave, and the dysfunctional patterns you have in your relationships so that you can actually improve.

In my case, I absolutely hated being told what to do. My unconscious belief was that people were trying to dominate me. Anytime anyone told me to do something, even if it was a simple request, a part of me would get triggered. I absolutely hated it.

Because of these beliefs, I actually became very resentful over the years. And it wasn’t until I finally did shadow work that I was able to find the source of this problem and fix it.

Since then, I no longer get triggered by this kind of stimulus. As a result, my relationships have become healthier and happier. I no longer take that sort of thing personally, and I don’t have any unconscious hostility towards people who express that either.

Diffused Emotions

Now when I say “diffused emotions” I mean feelings such as betrayal, abandonment, rejection, disappointment, humiliation, and isolation.

All of these feelings are actually immature beliefs created to point blame at other people.

The only reason anyone has these types of emotions is because of entitlement.

This immature way of thinking comes from the belief that you should be treated fairly, expected honesty, and you believe yourself to be insulted by betrayal. But this is immaturity.

Instead, you must drop the entitlement and seek agreements.

Nobody owes you respect. Nobody owes you anything.

And the only reason why you don’t act the way other people have treated you is that you’ve tucked those qualities away in your personal shadow.

But that’s not anyone’s problem but your own.

When you finally do shadow work, you come into grips with reality and understand that what you’ve been feeling has no true basis.

As a result, you’ll release that emotional tension that you’ve been hanging on to.

Accurate View of Reality

There are many people who act a certain way, only because they believe that’s the way they’re supposed to act. But that’s not the case.

What they’re expressing in their daily lives is actually a manifestation of their unconscious beliefs.

Many times, these unconscious beliefs from childhood are entirely inaccurate.

When you do shadow work, you’re actually allowing yourself to become more accepting of yourself and other people and the world around you. When you do this you get a more accurate view of reality.

You’re able to see things objectively, rather than attach these arbitrary expectations onto people and the world.

You are no longer stuck living in a fantasy. You can see the world how it truly is—completely neutral.

Disrupt Destructive Patterns

Your shadow has sado masochistic desires. This means that you unconsciously want to be affected, and be able to affect other people.

Sadism is the desire to cause pain and affect others. It’s the desire to get validation by invalidating others.

Masochism is the desire to receive pain and to be affected, or in other words, to receive validation by being invalidated.

When you haven’t integrated your shadow, there’s a high chance that your shadow is actually very dense and black.

When you don’t allow yourself to express this sadomasochism in a healthy way, your shadow will unconsciously influence your life.

It will cause you to unintentionally hurt people. Or put in very terrible situations.

This is because the unconscious has more will over your life than you do. And what the unconscious wants, it gets.

By doing shadow work, you’re able to take control of how these sadomasochistic desires are expressed. In return, your shadow won’t use these destructive desires against you.

Creative Insight

Remember that your shadow is the part of you that is outside of your awareness. But within the shadow lies your uniqueness, your interests, and direct relation to your higher self.

When you aren’t integrated with your dark side you were blocked off from these qualities. Your life satisfaction goes down, as well as your vitality and joy.

By doing shadow work, you cultivate a relationship with your higher self and you open up your mind to more insights and higher intuition.

These gifts help guide you through life as well as help you with your creative endeavors.

Complete Self-Knowledge

When you do shadow work you’re capable of tapping into your full potential. You know yourself better. You develop a better objective view of yourself and the world around you,

Your psyche isn’t bogged down by the negative emotions and neither are your relationships.

When you explore the parts of yourself that are unknown, you indirectly expand your life’s possibilities.

You’ll learn more about who you are and what you’re capable of.

Increased Energy & Vitality

Your unconscious is limitless and full of energy. But the only way you can tap into that energy is by listening and validating your shadow.

For example, I’m sure you’ve noticed that when you start a new hobby or project you get a gust of energy. This is because you’re fulfilling the shadow’s desires. And in return, it lends you its energy and excitement for life.

That energy is always within you. But your other half only gives you access to it when you honor it.

Genuine Self-Acceptance

Once you have a strong ongoing relationship with your shadow self, you will start to have a better understanding of how you work, how you engage with others, the ways you personally impact the world, and who you truly are.

It’s by integrating all of these aspects of yourself that you develop true self-love and genuine self-acceptance,

Which is something that most people will never achieve in their lifetime.

Reclaim Life Ownership

When you honor your unconscious just as much as you honor your conscious self, it will no longer work against you.

I’m sure you’ve heard of concepts like manifestation and The Law of Attraction.

What nobody ever talks about is why most of the time these ideas don’t work.

The reason why you’re unable to manifest what you truly desire is that you’re not honoring your unconscious.

To be able to manifest what you consciously desire, you first have to do Shadow Work and integrate the other half of yourself. That way you can celebrate the desires that your unconscious has been manifesting for you.

It’s after you celebrate the unconscious manifestations that your shadow will help you achieve what you consciously desire.

This will be in the form of better relationships, a healthier body, more money, or whatever sort of success you want to achieve.

All it takes is Shadow Work—so you can learn who you truly are, integrate your shadow self, and become whole.

Do these benefits of shadow work sound good to you? Check out the Shadow Work Course here.

Check out A Light Among Shadows: A Guide to Self-Love & Being here.