Is it in the Light or is in the Shadow?

-Is it in the light or is it in shadow?-  very wise question - a very good instructor kept asking during the time his workshop lasted (Sarasota , march 2011)  -Simple- he always added, -but not easy.-

His constant question seemed at first very repetitive.  But very soon I found myself lost in a lot of other secondary challenges presented by the portrait I was trying to 'achieve'.  More often than I expected I found myself missing the most important principle... Is it in the light or is it in the shadow?.  

Recognizing what parts of the subject are in light, and what parts are in shadow, seems so very obvious at first that a lot of us (in the workshop) worried to much about other aspects of the painting... trivial aspects,. but whatever we were doing...the question prevailed.. Was it in the light or was it in the shadow?  Simple, but no so easy. (Thank you instructor, great workshop!!) (I did not ask for permission to mention his name in this article).

Of course a lot of very experimented, professional artists manage this concept really well.  But..do they, do you, do I manage this very same principle in our lives?  in our behavior, emotions, actions?  Do we recognize if we are acting from the light or reacting  from our shadows?.

Whatever we do, whatever our thoughts are, however our emotions appear, however we are acting.  All this responses (negative energy) is emerging from inside us, from our being in light or from our shadow (the dark 'us' where our ego lives)- (very personal opinion)  See Shadow Effect by D Chopra.  Debbie Ford also has beautiful writings about the shadow.

RECOGNiZING if our thoughts, beliefs, emotions emerge from our 'healthy adults' or from our 'hurt selves' is a great breakthrough in our personal growth and helps us pave the way to a more enlightened life.   Easy but not simple....

So, the question here, the challenge of our every day acts comes to this...- am I acting from the light, or is this a reaction from the shadow?

I am not a psychologist or a spiritual teacher (for sure), but I am learning to recognize where my acts are coming from.   I am starting to have an understanding when my reactions come from my shadow.  This simple recognition has helped me not to do say or react when this action comes from my dark being.  Not that is anything wrong with the dar 'us', it is just that by knowing everything that we keep in that dark baggage (Echart Tolle calls it the pain body) we can embrace it as part of us and know what aspects we can bring to the light..... here, again, easy but not simple!

When we are acting from the light, of course we are acting from love.  When we are 'reacting' from our shadows, we are responding to fear, to the voice of our ego and our negative beliefs.  We are reacting from that very dark place where all our fears live.  

When we are being creative, we are creating from our higher selves.  When we are stuck or being arrogant about our work, or our creative energy is not flowing we are standing in our shadow.  We are being shadow artists.

I use the word act when our energy manifests itself from love and serenity (our healthy adult),  and  react when this energy is a result of of our shadow trying to take over (our hurt child).  MY interpretation of this shadow, and this is how I have experience not only what I know about it, but what I have come to learn that exists in myself) is as follows:  The SHADOW is the home we provide for our fears, our negative beliefs, our addictions, our compulsions, our hurt neglected or abandoned child our envy, our jealousy, our

 frustration our obsession, need for control.  All these negative energy that is in all human kind lives in our shadow.  I believe that is here where the 'devil' lives (if you are religious).  

Recognizing if our reactions come from the shadow is the first step in healing our shadow, since I believe all our aspects the live in the shadow have to be healed, have to come to the light.

This is a very shy attempt to describe the shadow for the purpose of this blog, as I understand it.  It is not intended to be a scientific or academic explanation.

So next time we do, feel, think, act.... Let stop for a minute and recognize  what this energy is coming through us..... IS IN THE LIGHT OR IS IT IN THE SHADOW???

When we stop for a minute to and acknowledge this energy we can take the right action, make the best decision, say the right thing and go the right path.   Because when we act from our light we are in harmony with ourselves and with the universe...!

Easy, but not simple