Embrace Your Dark Side, Face Your Monsters

Find a quiet place and sit down. This moment is for you, only for you. Now is the time to embrace your dark side. Forget the noise and the unfinished list of things to do. Let that negative voice in your head fade away little by little. Enjoy the silence.

Some people don’t know how to appreciate silence. For them, silence is bad company. However, if you are able to discover its essence, the silence can be incredibly satisfying. So listen to the silence.

You may think that it is impossible for silence to convey anything. However, give it a chance. Silence is often the way to connect with ourselves. In this case you will get in touch with your inner self. So don’t be afraid of the silence. Also, don’t run away.

There is nothing wrong with looking at yourself in the mirror. Touch your face. Run your fingers over the wounds and scars you usually avoid. Don’t look away and don’t close your eyes. Also, don’t pretend it’s nothing. You know it hurts. Embrace your monsters and embrace your dark side. Connect with yourself.

The darkness of pain

Looking suffering in the eye is not a pleasant experience. The ghosts that haunt your memories can be intimidating and extremely hard on you. After all, they know exactly which roads are unbreakable and which are less stable. They know perfectly well the dark pathways that house the roots embedded in your skin.

These ghosts are imprints of your past. It is the anchors that make you a slave to the pain of what you have been through. Sometimes they feed that pain to remind you that it is still there. They’ll let you know you haven’t gotten over it.

If you don’t let them stop, they’ll become the monsters you’re so afraid of. It is the fear of rejection, of being alone or of failure. They’re just different disguises and masks because they cover up the false belief that you cling so tightly to: the inability to be happy.

Did you know that your wounds also have a dark side? From here you can only see the gray sadness and pain of the thorns that sting you. It is a danger zone where you can easily fall. If you don’t prevent it, your life will eventually revolve around that suffering. It is a subtle web that entangles you little by little.

Free yourself from your past

It is not easy to free yourself from the broken pieces of your past. This is especially true if the shards are deep in your skin and you pretend not to see them. Pain has a thousand ways to express itself. Even though you think you are liberated from the pain, you may not be.

This pain and suffering can also manifest in your body. David Alexander is professor and director of the Aberdeen Center for Trauma Research. He argues that people who have suffered emotional damage often translate their pain into something physical.

This is also why you should embrace your dark side, your wounds and their influence on your world. Your dark side can be deceiving. If you don’t watch it, it can change the way you see reality. If you don’t face it, you will be stuck in an endless circle of suffering.

“There is no scar, however terrible it may seem,

that contains no beauty.

The scar tells a story,

a form of pain.

But also the end of the pain.

So scars are the seams

of the story,

an imperfect closure that heals us

and damage at the same time.

That’s the way

what time takes care of

that we never forget our wounds.”

-Marwan-

Your light is born from your dark side

Your dark side can break you. However, it can also help you to grow. This sounds contradictory. Yet it is so. The ocean of suffering is immense but not endless. If you look to the other side, you see solid ground. Finding balance is key here.

Once you recognize and understand the painful experience, it is a matter of moving beyond the pain.  Despite the pain in your heart, you can appreciate everything around you. Your world is not completely filled with suffering, even though you may sometimes see it that way. If you only focus on your wounds and your pain, your mind will believe that this is all that exists.

There will always be suffering. However, you can decide whether to give up and drown in suffering or to mature and grow. How can you do that? You must embrace your dark side, your monsters and your demons.

Swiss psychologist Carl Jung called the dark side of the personality the Shadow Archetype. It’s the basement where you hide your most repressed instincts. This is also where your greatest selfishness and your uncontrollable urges reside.

Embrace your suffering and your dark side

At some point in our lives, we all experience suffering. It is important that we learn to recognize, accept and feel it. Do this with kindness and don’t be so hard on yourself.

Once you do this, you need to see why it happens. What is the cause of your suffering? What is his true nature? What thoughts feed the suffering? What deeds give it strength? Do you notice the feelings it brings back to life? Sometimes we throw gasoline on the fire of our words, deeds and thoughts. We don’t even realize we’re doing this.

The next step to freedom is to try to avoid causing suffering. How can you do that? You avoid anything that can provoke suffering. This step requires patience, commitment and practice. After all, you have thousands of ways to hurt yourself.

They are deeply rooted within you. Moreover, almost all of them have to do with your thoughts and unconscious actions. The key is to recognize them and to see that nothing lasts. You even have the ability to change your life because you are not a puppet.

Decision

We admit that this is not an easy or straightforward process. You will have to overcome many obstacles and break through many shields. Yet it is the only way to shed light on your life and discover the way to well-being. This change will also not occur suddenly. It is a gradual process.

Transcending your dark side takes time. However, it is the only way to end your suffering and be at peace with it. The monsters that control you are sometimes nothing more than your deepest fears crying out for help.