Don’t fear the dark, face it, embrace it.
“Mommy! Mommy! Ghost!!,” a 3-year-old Riya scaringly screams and runs inside the house and holds her mom’s so tight that she topples over to the kitchen wall. “What happened, Riya? Why are you so scared baby?”
“Mommy, something black was behind me, dada said; it’s a ghost.” [dada is the neighbour’s 10-year-old son, dada means brother]. Mommy washes her hands and picks Riya in her arms.
“Riya, let’s go and see where is the ghost, let’s frighten him and run him away!”. She takes Riya outside, looks here and there, and finds no one.
“Riya baby, see there is no one outside, dada must have played a prank, wait, will punish him when he returns.” Saying this she wipes Riya’s tears and picks up her in her arms.
Riya hugs her mom tight and slowly calms down. Moving her hand over her head softly, mommy says, “No one will bother you now baby, mommy is here, go play.” Mommy stands on the veranda watching her play. But, as soon as she gets into the courtyard, she shouts again, “See, mommy, the ghost has come near me again”. Mommy rushes outside to see Riya and looks down where she points out at her Ghost. She laughs and points towards the floor at what seemed to be a ghost for Riya, she says “Riya baby, you got scared of this; this is your shadow baby”. Riya immediately asks, “Shadow!!What’s a Shadow?”. Mommy takes her to the veranda and sits down on the last stair, lifting her onto her lap she says, “Shadow is your friend who plays hide-n-seek with you, in the light she is visible, and in the dark, she hides”.
Riya inquisitively asks, “Why does she hide in the dark?”.
“She hides in the dark because she wants you to be a brave girl when alone and not fear darkness, so she hides and tells you – Even if you don’t see me, I am there with you”.
With her eyes lit up in excitement, Riya says, “Yes mommy, I am a brave girl!”
Mommy and Riya hug each other and have a hearty laugh. Riya quickly jumps out of her mommy’s lap and runs down in the yard again to play. “Mommy, come catch my shadow.” Saying this, both the mother-daughter enjoys running behind each other’s shadows.
I am sure we all have similar stories of our childhood when we first met our Shadow. As kids, we enjoyed playing with shadow manipulation: moving shadows, shrinking shadows, enlarging shadows, and double shadows.
How beautiful is our bond with our Shadow! Isn’t she, our friend? A friend who is non-judgemental and inseparable!
While the shadow is always talked about as the side of us that we do not like to accept or talk about, it is usually compared to negative emotions. But I feel shadow cannot be limited to only negativities. It rather tells us that along with positivity’s we also have negativities in us and we need to accept them. Yes, one needs to work on the negative emotions which are harmful to lead a peaceful life, but at the same time, one cannot be 100% flawless. You need to embrace your good and bad in life, it’s inseparable.
Shadow manifests life’s lessons:
When Sunlight (Success) is essential, it tells us shadows (adversities) are important in life as they illuminate our paths for the future.
When Sunlight (anger) comes scorching in, the shades (calmness) give our life the balance we need.
When relationships become difficult, upsurge your love says the Shadow, remember where there is light, there is a shadow when you accept the light, you ought to accept the Shadow.
As we grow, the Shadow grows with us, we learn its science, and we see it daily, but its acceptance remains unseen. Embrace the shadow self, and be non-judgemental, flexible, and full of love! Don’t fear the dark, face it, embrace it. Befriend your Shadow to bring positive change in your life!