Carl Jung - Why Your Dark Side Is Your Friend (Jungian Philosophy)

Carl Yung says no matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel if you do your work truly and conscientiously unknown friends will come and seek you no matter how many friends you have you could always use one more your own Dark Side everybody has a dark side but most people are unaware of it this is one of the most important things K Yun has brought to light during in his career as a psychoanalyst Dr Yung along with Sigman Freud and Alfred Adler was one of the founders of modern depth psychology or psychoanalysis after

some time Yung separated from Freud's teachings to pursue his own beliefs he founded his own School of Psychology alongside the field of analytic psychology among yung's published books are psychology of the unconscious man and his symbols the the archetypes and the collective unconscious Modern Man In Search of a soul the psychology of the transference memories dreams and thoughts and the relations between the ego and the unconscious one of yung's most important teachings was about the self and the psyche the psyche is what some people would consider to be our soul or mind and it encompasses

our Consciousness as well as our unconsciousness the self is the psyche and all its potential the totality of who you are and who you could become our Consciousness contains everything we're aware of and in contrast the unconsciousness houses everything we are not aware of Yung became immensely famous for his theory on the individuation process an almost step-by-step plan that seeks to fulfill your psyche's potential by trying to make the unconscious ious the most important part of the unconsciousness to focus on for this practice is what Yung called The Shadow or your dark side the shadow

contains all the aspects of yourself that you'd rather not have and are in denial about your bad traits and darkest side the shadow is what you try to pretend you don't have even to the point of convincing yourself examples of traits the shadow could house are explosive anger jealousy Envy greed Pride laziness vanity and so on generally we tend to be completely unaware of our shadow it's in our unconscious but the suppressing of your unconsciousness is exactly what sustains unhappiness inauthenticity and misery while you might think your Shadow sounds more like your enemy than your

friend in this video we'll explain why that's not true and why you should consider your dark side your friend number one your dark side can reveal your true self Carl Yung says no Noble well-grown tree ever disowned its dark roots for it grows not only upward but downward as well a defining part of your Shadow is the fact that you don't know it that's why it's called the shadow everything you know about yourself is in the light all the other things are behind it in the shadows and in order to befriend your dark side it's

vital to shine a light on your Shadow to truly try and get to know yourself remaining ignorant about your unconscious and especially the shadow is very dangerous in theory when you repress your bad traits you only show your good ones but in fact you can never truly remove bad traits whatever you push down is bound to Bubble back up during unexpected uncontrollable moments for example the repression of your anger will result in sudden outof the blue outbursts every now and then in the most unpredictable ways the same goes for any other undesirable trait if you

ignore your flaws they will always control you the denial of our Shadow Self however feels very natural it's difficult to try and look straight into the aspects of ourselves that we despise or fear the most how could someone who takes great pride in their kindness and generosity ever acknowledge their raging Envy how could someone who sees themselves as fully confident ever address their insecurities well in most cases they don't if someone sees themselves as a highly confident person they'll probably ignore and deny their insecurities but that doesn't mean they're not there instead they might subconsciously

avoid facing their insecurities by avoiding certain situations not wearing certain clothes and so on people who remain in denial about certain parts of themselves have to stay in their own bubble in order to avoid running into those parts if you pretend to be confident you'll always have to avoid anything that could bring your insecurities to light but true confidence comes from facing your fear and insecurities and doing so can only be done by recognizing them or in other words by recognizing Your Shadow how can you work on something that you don't even know exists since

you cannot improve what you don't know the first step of growing beyond your weaknesses is to get to know them how by interrogating yourself get to know the deepest darkest side of yourself this won't be easy it takes time effort focus without distractions and you have to keep the conversation flowing take some time out of each day to ask yourself what behaviors did I exhibit today why did I do the things I did what motivated me what was I afraid of today the best ways to reflect on these questions that Yung recommends specifically are through

meditation journaling or drawing when it comes to drawing Yung specifically recommends focusing on drawing mandalas drawing something especially something as symmetrical and simple as a mandala relaxes your brain and will help your thoughts focus on all the things that you normally suppress moreover the kinds of lines you draw and colors you choose can tell you things about yourself do you use round soft shapes or harsh lines cold colors or warm colors and what do you think this reflects if you analyze yourself through mandalas every day week or month you can track your growth and changes

in a way you never have before another particularly helpful aspect to examine when it comes to exploring your Shadow is how you view others one big consequence of suppressing your bad traits is Extreme and often unfair Judgment of others portraying that very trait you want want to convince yourself you don't have for example if you've convinced yourself you're never lazy and you've suppressed your tendency to be lazy into your Shadow you'll quickly brand others as lazy even if you don't have enough information or context to do so this is called projection instead of accepting the

fact that you might feel lazy every now and then you project that trait onto others suddenly everyone you see sitting down or taking a break is lazy and you judge them harshly even unfairly for it so when you sit down to explore Your Shadow take the extra time to ask yourself who did I judge today why what traits do I find the most despicable in others and why and do I ever feel a tendency to portray that trait too however you do it make sure you set aside a certain time to spend reflecting like in

evening before bed or in the morning before work getting to know your Shadow is a difficult and NeverEnding process since you're always changing but it's also one of the most rewarding things you'll ever do once you get to know what it is that you push away you get to know what drives you the most and what truly makes you you after having gotten to know your Shadow you probably won't like it in fact it might dis disturb or even disgust you you don't want to associate with anything you found let alone befriend these traits but

that is what you need to grow as a person number two your dark side can give you advice according to Yung one does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light but by making the darkness conscious allow your new friend the shadow to give you advice every now and then no matter how badly you might want it to be false Your Shadow is part of you and every single part of you can be helpful in different kinds of situations for example Your Shadow might be made up of greed anger childishness and laziness not an ideal

friend sure but what positive qualities might these traits house a greedy friend might inspire you not to settle when you could have more maybe in order to avoid being greedy you've always been overly generous denied yourself luxuries or convinced yourself you don't deserve whatever your Shadow wants however being the opposite of greedy can backfire in many ways greed is of course a bad trait and generosity is greatly appreciated but those who find no balance between the two do themselves no favors if you want to get a raise at your job you often need to ask

for it if you want to lift from a friend you should reach out and tell them if you want to treat yourself every now and then you should be able to instead of ignoring your greed see it as a friend telling you you deserve more you might disagree from time to time but you should at least hear it out moreover take anger someone who's always angry isn't Pleasant to be around that's true loads of people especially those who want to be seen as kind easygoing or gentle repress their anger all the time they hide it

in their Shadow and never look at it repressing anger however allows it to Fester which can lead to sudden outbursts or even serious mental health problems besides that anger can actually be incredibly useful when your friend in other words you is angry ask yourself why anger is often a basis for fairness and Justice sometimes the anger you feel is very much appropriate and can serve as a motivation for you to stand up for yourself so like with greed instead of repressing your anger you should listen to your Shadow as if it were a friend saying

hey you should be angry about this and then decide whether you agree or not a childish friend might show you what it's like to regard the world with Wonder and enjoy the little things lazy friends will teach you how to relax and take breaks the longer you think about all those bad traits you'll start to realize just how many upsides they have and in turn you can show this friend how to balance all these traits and only give into them when it's useful to listen to these pieces of advice and put them to good use

you need to acquire wisdom that's hidden in every single part of yourself even the parts that seem bad in order to befriend Your Shadow you have to look past the discomfort of your bad traits and consider them truly and objectively once you know it's what's been holding you back you can actually use it to go forward so your friend gives you advice okay sometimes it will be bad advice but sometimes it'll be really really good advice advice that you'll only know if you accept your Shadow into your life number three your dark side can help

you be unique in the words of Yung becoming conscious of your Shadow is the essential condition for any kind of self- knowledge getting to know your Shadow means getting to know a whole new side of yourself and this can also help you become your most authentic unique self repressing the shadow asks for a lot of pretending you have to pretend not to be lazy not to be scared not to be insecure and more people who ignore their Shadow the hardest are often the most inauthentic people because they're too busy trying to become what they think

others want them to be rather than actually being themselves and worse they're in denial of their actual selves the shadow often houses the traits that are most unique to us because being different scares us we want to be like everybody else so we've convinced others and ourselves that we are but having shoved away all those traits that are unique and unusual it's impossible to embrace your uniqueness so getting to know your Shadow and seeing it as a friend giving you advice is the way to become your most unique full and authentic self listening to your

Shadow's advice can help you come to Creative Solutions that you'd never have thought of without being conscious of your Shadow Solutions ideas and actions that are unique to you knowing your Shadow is vital for being proud of yourself and acting as such for example if you accept the fact that you were greedy you might suddenly realize you're great at advocating for yourself and what you deserve all the things you know about yourself thanks to your Shadow and all the things you now do better they all come together to make you a unique person moreover when

your shadows conscious you'll face your deepest secret desires hopes and dreams you'll find that you have aspirations you had no idea of before befriend ing the Shadow and that you have personal goals in life that had been hidden to you before that moment living authentically looks different for every single person that's what makes it so authentic so living according to the shadow means breaking free from the norm and embracing your own ideas and plans discuss your life plans with your shadows ask your Shadow for advice and proposals and learn who you truly uniquely are by

befriending your Shadow you can embrace your true self number four your dark side can fight you in our final quote from Carl Yung for this video he says beware of unearned wisdom like with any friend sometimes you and your Shadow will fight first and foremost when you don't acknowledge Your Shadow it will harm you this has already been discussed but it's important to reiterate that getting to know your Shadow is a continuing effort exploring the shadow is never fully over just like any friendship your relationship with your Shadow requires constant work and effort and neglecting

it results in fights so what does fighting with your shadow look like an uncared for shadow will Express itself in New numerous ways unhelpful gut feelings outbursts unfair judgment towards others and self-consciousness this has also been discussed but even after you've accepted and integrated Your Shadow it can still trick you the advice Your Shadow friend gives you can be wrong the feelings you feel as a result of your Shadow can be deceptive and everything can become too much so sometimes our shadow Parts get the upper hand in an unhelpful way we get destructive instincts or

a bad feeling your Shadow can tell you to get angry in a situation where it would be an overreaction or to relax when you should be putting the work in or to go against the norm when it simply isn't the time it's your job not to just listen to your Shadow blindly but fight it every now and then engage in discussions with it befriending your shadow requires patience all the time patience for yourself and patience when making decisions the shadow gets the most chance to destruct when you don't give yourself time to actually converse with

it so fighting with your Shadow doesn't mean you should start ignoring whatever intuitions you have don't go back to repressing parts of yourself instead carefully consider and interrogate your instincts and feelings in determining the legitimacy of whatever your Shadow advises you your rational thinking is of importance is what your Shadow telling you making logical sense what are the upsides and downsides to it does something feel right or not and why what is it about this option that makes you feel hesitant reflect on your decisions often Again by journaling drawing meditating mind mapping or anything don't

make a decision unless you understand why you're making this decision confronting Your Shadow often is what truly gives it its helpful power make sure to fight it every now and then not out of anger or distrust but in order to make sure you remain sharp and get the best possible use out of your Shadow if you enjoyed this video please make sure to check out our full philosophies for Life playlist and for more videos to help you find success and happiness using beautiful philosophical wisdom don't forget to subscribe thanks so much for watching