Shadows Reveal Themselves

Liminal space offers a spaciousness for our shadows to reveal themselves. What is a shadow? Just like in nature, a shadow forms when light is withheld. For emotional shadows, we have to shine our own light into the dark interior spaces.

For me, it happened gradually. I spent years unravelling form the cult I was raised in. My year on the road allowed me to start processing my grief from my husband’s death. And then there were the decades trying to feel worthy of love, the love I was denied from my mom. It took witnessing her true sweetness as the dementia shifted her world to understand that she was probably healing from her own traumas. It wasn’t until a few years after her death that I was told of her attempts to cause permanent harm to my sister and I during childhood (I have years with few memories and powerful recurring nightmares). There was more, but I think you get the picture.

We are harmed. We develop mechanisms for survival as we grow up. And left unchallenged, those skills that kept us safe wreak havoc in our lives as we navigate adulthood. The shadows reveal themselves so we can heal.

The shadows are a part of me, but I no longer am scared or ashamed. I’m to learning to integrate the light with the shadow, and it all was facilitated with the spaciousness and quietness of liminal space.