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    “Part X is the judgmental part of you, the antisocial part of you. It’s an invisible… force that wants to keep you from changing or growing. It wants to block your evolution. It wants to block your potential. Part X is the voice of impossibility. Whatever it is you think you need to do, it’s gonna tell you that’s impossible.”

    Phil Stutz, Stutz

      “Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”

      Carl Jung, via The Daily Laws (Page 30)

        “Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.”

        Maori proverb, via Sunbeams (Page 139)

          “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”

          Carl Jung, via Sunbeams (Page 123)

            “The shadow does not leave when it is attacked; it heals when it is forgiven. We do not take off our shadowy mask in the presence of someone who blames us, but rather in the presence of someone who says through words or behavior, ‘I know this is not who you are.’ We miraculously heal in the presence of someone who believes in our light even when we are lost in our darkness. And when we learn to see others in the light of their true being, whether they are showing us that light or not, then we have the power to work that miracle for them.”

            Marianne Williamson, The Shadow Effect (Page 175)

              “To the shadow, the light is an enemy. But to the light, the shadow is nothing. It simply does not exist.”

              Marianne Williamson, The Shadow Effect (Page 157)

                “Let us not underestimate the power of the shadow. It’s not enough to just meditate sometimes; we should meditate daily. It’s not enough, if you’re a recovering addict, to attend a meeting every once in a while; you should attend a meeting every day. It’s not enough that we forgive a few people; we must try our best to forgive everyone, for only love is real. If I withhold it from anyone, then I withhold it from myself. And it’s not enough to love only when it’s easy; we must try to expand our capacity to love even when it’s hard.”

                Marianne Williamson, The Shadow Effect (Page 157)

                  “Like the lotus flower that is born out of mud, we must honor the darkest parts of ourselves and the most painful of our life’s experiences, because they are what allow us to birth our most beautiful self. We need the messy, muddy past, the muck of our human life—the combination of every hurt, wound, loss, and unfulfilled desire blended with every joy, success, and blessing to give us the wisdom, the perspective, and the drive to step into the most magnificent expression of ourselves. This is the gift of the shadow.”

                  Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 142)

                    “[When asked if she held any anger towards Hitler] I wouldn’t hold on to any anger toward Hitler. If I did, he would win the war, because I would still be carrying him around with me wherever I went.”

                    Edith Eva Eger, Auschwitz survivor, via The Shadow Effect (Page 140)

                      “To be a whole human being, we have to acknowledge the existence of all our feelings, human qualities, and experiences and value not just the parts of ourselves that our ego has deemed acceptable, but everything that we have deemed wrong or bad. If we are willing to allow our dark side to be a part of the whole of who we are, we will find it comes equipped with all the power, skill, intelligence, and force needed to do great things in the world.”

                      Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 133)

                        “When we expose our dark side, we understand how our personal history dictates the way we treat those around us—and how we treat ourselves. This is why it’s imperative that we unmask it and understand it. To do this, we must uncover what we’ve hidden and befriend the very impulses and characteristics that we abhor.”

                        Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 93)

                          “It’s ironic that to find the courage to lead an authentic life, you will have to go into the dark rooms of your most inauthentic self. You have to confront the very parts of yourself that you fear most to find what you have been looking for, because the mechanism that drives you to conceal your darkness is the same mechanism that has you hide your light. What you’ve been hiding from can actually give you what you’ve been trying hard to achieve.”

                          Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 92)

                            “Poet and author Robert Bly describes the shadow as an invisible bag that each of us carries around on our back. As we’re growing up, we put in the bag every aspect of ourselves that is not acceptable to our families and friends. Bly believes we spend the first few decades of our life filling up our bag, and then the rest of our life trying to retrieve everything we’ve hidden away.”

                            Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 86)

                              “The first step in defeating the shadow is to abandon all notions of defeating it. The dark side of human nature thrives on war, struggle, and conflict. As soon as you talk about ‘winning,’ you have lost already.”

                              Deepak Chopra, The Shadow Effect (Page 14)

                                “Higher consciousness is the answer—the only lasting answer—to the dark side of human nature.”

                                Deepak Chopra, The Shadow Effect (Page 13)

                                  “I believe that the shadow is one of the greatest gifts available to us. Carl Jung called it a ‘sparring partner’; it is the opponent within us that exposes our flaws and sharpens our skills. It is the teacher, the trainer, and the guide that supports us in uncovering our true magnificence. The shadow is not a problem to be solved or an enemy to be conquered but a fertile field to be cultivated. When we dig our hands into its rich soil, we will discover the potent seeds of the people we most desire to be.”

                                  Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 5)

                                    “Although ignoring or repressing our dark side is the norm, the sobering truth is that running from the shadow only intensifies its power. Denying it only leads to more pain, suffering, regret, and resignation. If we fail to take responsibility and extract the wisdom that has been hidden beneath the surface of our conscious minds, the shadow will take charge.”

                                    Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 2)