The Shadow Effect

-Illuminating The Negative.

I recently had the opportunity to watch Debbie Ford’s movie, The Shadow Effect, and it was excellent for a number of reasons. First, it was a refreshing look into how we react to our own ‘dark side’. I fully agree that when we embrace ALL of our qualities of humanness, we will be much more healthy and happy- moving through life with less guilt and fear. Here’s an example of where Im coming from and it comes from YEARS of being plagued with the heaviness of denying these thoughts and feelings.

Lets say that our ‘dark’ emotion is resentment or envy- maybe even egotism or condescension. Now these aint exactly feelings we like to have and we certainly arent proud of them. So what do we do (many or most of us)? We repress them, deny them and run from them. Can you relate?

So, my question then is this: Does this work for you?

It certainly doesnt work for me. I believe that we require energy to repress these feelings, that we feel ‘bad about ourselves’ for feeling them and that it takes a psychic toll on our being.

What can we do to be more effective?

What I found is this simple process:

Acknowledge the feeling- talk to it (oh boy, here comes the woo woo stuff) and respect it. Thank it for it’s good intentions and let it know that you choose not to be influenced by it; that you choose another feeling or belief. Dismiss it with respect and it has no need to rear it’s ugly head again and nag nag nag you. That’s it. Nothing complex, very simple and, for me and others, very very effective. Try this, if you havent already. It’s very effective and the peace of mind it allows is HUGE.

The Shadow movie presents this concept in a very credible and visually compelling manner. I recommend the movie and certainly recommend the technique. My book, Illuminate: Harnessing The Positive Power of Negative Thinking, is a very engaging parable that exposes a simple process of applying this principle.

Im wondering if youve tried this ‘technique’ from either The Shadow movie or Illuminate book.

I’d love to read your comments.

By David Corbin|2016-12-13T05:48:38+00:00November 28th, 2009|Insights|0 Comments

About the Author: David Corbin

As someone who grew up in the sixties and seventies and attended Woodstock, college protests, volunteered as Director of Community Counseling Center, med evac at concerts and festivals and the like, I still maintain a strong commitment to social change. My venue at this stage of my life is the business community and that’s where I am focusing my energies to making positive change. My books, keynotes and trainings are all about systems that foster peace of mind and productivity through personal and professional growth and development. They offer models for identifying values and mission and give procedures and processes for bringing them to life- acting in congruence with them at all times.