Given yesterday was Valentine's Day, I am inspired to write about the shadow of love and some of the healing modalities we use in Shadow Work® . In the Shadow Work® model of archetypes, the Sovereign and the Lover combined make up what we call the connection loop. For...
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Sovereign Quiz – Shadow Work
When we talk about shadow work we often reference Robert Bly’s notion of the “shadow bag”. When we were young, we were given messages that certain parts of ourselves were not OK, were less lovable, or were not safe to be seen with. So we put those parts of ourselves in the “shadow bag”. Of course, in shadow work, we are up to bringing those parts of ourselves out to be integrated and loved in order to have access to more of our full bandwidth of humanity.
Sometimes, what we put in the shadow bag is our full ability to shine in the world with all of our gifts. Along with our full self-expression goes a piece of our joy. We believe that it is our birthright to claim as much of our joyful self-expression as possible!
With that in mind, I have created a playful “Sovereign Quiz” for you to reflect on your joy, your mission and your light. En-joy!
Grab a piece of paper and rate yourself on a scale of 1-5 based on the following scale:
1 = almost never 2 = seldom 3 = sometimes 4 = often 5 = almost always
- In my family it was safe for me to be fully in my joy.
- I allow myself now to be fully in my joy.
- There was space in my family for me to “shine”.
- I seek out opportunities now that allow me to fully shine and bring my gifts.
- I feel like I am “on mission” with my true purpose.
- I allow myself to “fake it til I make it.”
- I acknowledge myself more than I criticize myself.
- I bless or acknowledge others more often than I criticize them.
- When I criticize myself, I can easily pull myself out of it with positive self-talk or other tools.
- I believe and act like I am fully responsible for creating my life.
Of course there are no right or wrong answers. Just for fun, add up your points and see where you land in terms of sovereign energy. In a shadow work coaching session or weekend, we can work with you to look at any blocks that might be in the way of your mission or fully claiming your joy.
Blessings!
Jeannie Daly-Gunter, MA
