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    “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)

      “Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment, and especially on their children, than the unlived life of the parents.”

      Carl Jung, via Sunbeams (Page 111)

        “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)

          “Whatever we judge or condemn in another is ultimately a disowned or rejected part of ourselves. When we are in the midst of projection, it appears as though we are seeing the other person, but in reality we are seeing a hidden aspect of ourselves.”

          Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 117)

            “We possess every human characteristic and emotion, whether active or dormant, whether conscious or unconscious. There is nothing we can conceive of that we are not. We are everything—that which we consider good and that which we consider bad. How could we know courage if we have never known fear? How could we know happiness if we never experienced sadness? How could we know light if we never knew dark?”

            Debbie Ford, The Shadow Effect (Page 95)

              “We all have a mental image of what a desirable physical body is like—trim, healthy, youthful, fresh, pleasing to look at. But we don’t use those qualities with regard to our emotions, our ’emotional body.’ The emotional body, like the physical body, must be properly nourished. It can grow tired and flabby when the same responses to the world are repeated over and over. It becomes diseased when exposed to toxins and unhealthy influences.”

              Deepak Chopra, The Shadow Effect (Page 49)

                “You get the emotions you think you deserve.”

                Deepak Chopra, The Shadow Effect (Page 46)

                  “It sounds strange, but feelings have feelings. Being part of you, they know when they are unwanted. Fear cooperates by hiding; anger cooperates by pretending it doesn’t exist. That’s more than half the problem. How can you heal an unwanted feeling when it’s trying not to cooperate? You can’t. Until you make peace with negative feelings, they will persist. The way to deal with negativity is to acknowledge it. Nothing more is needed.”

                  Deepak Chopra, The Shadow Effect (Page 42)

                    “Inside you is the cause of every war. It is your violence, hidden and denied, that leads to wars of every kind, whether it is war inside your home, against others in society, or between nations.”

                    J. Krishnamurti, via The Shadow Effect (Page 40)

                      “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)

                        “It is one of the great troubles of life that we cannot have any unmixed emotions. There is always something in our enemy that we like, and something in our sweetheart that we dislike.”

                        William Butler Yeats, via Sunbeams (Page 102)

                          “Hurt people hurt people. But healed people heal people. Respect your feelings, and you’ll find your trauma. Respect your trauma and you’ll find your purpose. Respect your purpose and you’ll find your destiny. Respect your destiny and you’ll find your legacy.”

                          Rebecca Bardess, Twitter