I'm truly impressed by the quality of your video! It's amazing to see how well you simplify complex topics, making them easily understandable even for non-native English speakers. Thank you for your hard work and for sharing such valuable knowledge in such an engaging way!!
Just found your channel only by accident, or was it! Maybe it's that Shadow part me calling out for recognition. Very informative stuff! Are there age restrictions or expirations to this Shadow that looks over all of us. Looking forward to more enlightening videos. Maybe Live discussions. Big Ups!
Certainly no age restrictions! Simply by the nature of experience and memory, it's likely that the older you are the "more" you'll have in the shadow. But really it's more about understanding the core beliefs and stories about yourself that are the most limiting - and those are often formed pretty early in life. Once you understand the root of your patterns, no matter how old you are, it'll start to explain a lot. In fact, the older you are it might become even MORE apparent how much of an influence a certain belief has exerted on your life, since you'll be able to see the effect over a longer period of time. So you're never too old! Maybe you could be too young. A very young child's shadow would probably either be nonexistent or simply contain basic survival instincts and drives. Hunger, thirst, desire for warmth. That kind of thing. Don't quote me on that though, I'm not a psychologist haha
Excellent video. 10/10 for explanation and accessibility 😊 Also, I just watched the video in your link. Bravo and thank you. I was so impressed by how candid you were - it helped me to dig a bit deeper inside myself. I'm so grateful You have an excellent way of conducting and presenting yourself. I'm extremely happy to have come across your channel 😊
Great video!! I have a question aobut doing shadow work and letting go based on the technique and book of David Hawkins. So, based on the book you're supposed to just let be the emotions you're feeling when something happens to you or even just sitting there doing nothing and feel your body and sensations. Shadow work would be kind of the same or part of the same. I know this works seems to dissolve those emotions or just let them pass. But how does affirmations and positive self talk would work and not be a resistance to shadow work? For example, being insecure about something like not hanging out or going to parties but then telling yourself that you're confident and you can be okay going there? Or like being stressed in your job because you got an important project but then you tell yourself you can do it and it will be okay. Doesn't that create a type of resistance?
Sorry for the late reply, I got behind on my comments! This is an EXCELLENT question. Thank you for asking it! In my opinion - actually, yes! You're right. I think affirmations and positive self-talk are "good" to a point. They can be very helpful for people who are EXTREMELY negative and self-destructive. When you're in that place, if you find affirmations helpful, go for it! That said, there's something to be said for human babies. A baby doesn't need to do affirmations to feel good about themselves, right? Feeling good about "themselves" doesn't even matter. They're just existing - they're just living life. Now once they get a little older - we start to introduce concepts. The baby starts to take on the insecurities and limitations of its environment. The baby starts to experience the projections and opinions of society, friends, family. They start to learn "should" "shouldn't" "right" "wrong" "good" "bad" and so on. Now, once we get so wrapped up in the world of ideas - there's an artificial limitation placed upon our fundamental existence. We look into our backyard and think "I should really get that tree trimmed" and we feel stress about it. But REALLY our thought process is "I feel responsible for this tree and my neighbors trees are looking pretty nice and I'm not sure what my wife is gonna think if I don't take care of this tree and my dad's coming over next week and he always makes me feel a little bit emasculated because he asks about the trees like I can't take care of my own yard but I'm not sure if I can afford hiring somebody to trim the tree because of this conflict I'm having at work..." and so on. Now we're trapped in the world of concepts. So we try to cling to the concepts we like (beautiful, handsome, talented, successful, powerful) and we reject or disown the ones we don't like (failure, ugly, weak, etc.). But the truth is that they're ALL concepts. They're ALL made up. So if I'm completely lost in the world of concepts - there might be some temporary relief in trying to replace "negative" ones with "positive" ones via affirmations. But the underlying problem is that I'm STILL identified with a concept. If words can make me feel "not enough", and then other words (affirmations) can make me feel "good enough", then I'm still vulnerable to OTHER words that will make me feel "not enough" again. To speak to your point about resistance - it's like me believing I'm stuck (when I'm really not) and wanting to be free. No matter how much I want to be free, it's ANCHORED in the idea that I'm stuck. The stuck and the free are really the same thing. The negative self concept and the positive self concept are sort of the same thing. It's a "you" that's built out of words and ideas. Ultimately, if you're built of words and ideas, you can be destroyed by words and ideas! So I think affirmations have their place, but they don't touch the fundamental issue that most people are struggling with in any lasting way.
I did several months of deep shadow work with retreats and coaches. Absolutely NOTHING came out of it. No hidden traumas, nothing I am running from, no hidden desires, no shadows anywhere. Very disappointed.
@@andrewvanhoff It is an existential crisis as it overshadows my whole life. Everything, every activity becomes an effort to find a meaningful relationship. It takes my time, energy and life force, distracting me from my life purpose (beside reproduction). And all the effort led nowhere, which increases the frustration.
That certainly sounds exhausting. And I can understand how disheartening it must feel to come up without any answers. At face value I'd suggest that does indeed seem to be the "shadow" presenting itself, but that's not necessarily helpful to hear, I understand. It might be worth exploring why that's a problem for you in the first place? Feeling dedicated to finding a meaningful relationship isn't inherently a problem. And yet the way you describe it indicates that you're interpreting it as a problem, and it's having negative effects on your life. So of course, there's an inner conflict where part of you desperately wants something, and part of you wants to not want it so much. So I would say it's less about "fixing" the behavior per se, and more about understanding the deeper motivation and inner conflict surrounding it. At the same time it's quite possible you've explored that already in your previous shadow work, so I apologize if that's not especially helpful.
I'm prone to anxiety and self sabotage haha...and the same issue with perfectionism and being paralyzed by it.
i really enjoy your videos. I wish they were longer!
I'm truly impressed by the quality of your video! It's amazing to see how well you simplify complex topics, making them easily understandable even for non-native English speakers. Thank you for your hard work and for sharing such valuable knowledge in such an engaging way!!
Just found your channel only by accident, or was it!
Maybe it's that Shadow part me calling out for recognition.
Very informative stuff!
Are there age restrictions or expirations to this Shadow that looks over all of us.
Looking forward to more enlightening videos. Maybe Live discussions.
Big Ups!
Certainly no age restrictions! Simply by the nature of experience and memory, it's likely that the older you are the "more" you'll have in the shadow. But really it's more about understanding the core beliefs and stories about yourself that are the most limiting - and those are often formed pretty early in life.
Once you understand the root of your patterns, no matter how old you are, it'll start to explain a lot. In fact, the older you are it might become even MORE apparent how much of an influence a certain belief has exerted on your life, since you'll be able to see the effect over a longer period of time.
So you're never too old! Maybe you could be too young. A very young child's shadow would probably either be nonexistent or simply contain basic survival instincts and drives. Hunger, thirst, desire for warmth. That kind of thing. Don't quote me on that though, I'm not a psychologist haha
Excellent video. 10/10 for explanation and accessibility 😊
Also, I just watched the video in your link. Bravo and thank you. I was so impressed by how candid you were - it helped me to dig a bit deeper inside myself. I'm so grateful
You have an excellent way of conducting and presenting yourself. I'm extremely happy to have come across your channel 😊
can you suggest me some books for beginners? if possibile easy to understand since english it's not my first language:)
That make a lot of sense
Excellent videos, thank you Andrew!
Great video!! I have a question aobut doing shadow work and letting go based on the technique and book of David Hawkins. So, based on the book you're supposed to just let be the emotions you're feeling when something happens to you or even just sitting there doing nothing and feel your body and sensations. Shadow work would be kind of the same or part of the same. I know this works seems to dissolve those emotions or just let them pass. But how does affirmations and positive self talk would work and not be a resistance to shadow work? For example, being insecure about something like not hanging out or going to parties but then telling yourself that you're confident and you can be okay going there? Or like being stressed in your job because you got an important project but then you tell yourself you can do it and it will be okay. Doesn't that create a type of resistance?
Sorry for the late reply, I got behind on my comments!
This is an EXCELLENT question. Thank you for asking it!
In my opinion - actually, yes! You're right.
I think affirmations and positive self-talk are "good" to a point. They can be very helpful for people who are EXTREMELY negative and self-destructive. When you're in that place, if you find affirmations helpful, go for it!
That said, there's something to be said for human babies. A baby doesn't need to do affirmations to feel good about themselves, right? Feeling good about "themselves" doesn't even matter. They're just existing - they're just living life.
Now once they get a little older - we start to introduce concepts. The baby starts to take on the insecurities and limitations of its environment. The baby starts to experience the projections and opinions of society, friends, family. They start to learn "should" "shouldn't" "right" "wrong" "good" "bad" and so on. Now, once we get so wrapped up in the world of ideas - there's an artificial limitation placed upon our fundamental existence. We look into our backyard and think "I should really get that tree trimmed" and we feel stress about it.
But REALLY our thought process is "I feel responsible for this tree and my neighbors trees are looking pretty nice and I'm not sure what my wife is gonna think if I don't take care of this tree and my dad's coming over next week and he always makes me feel a little bit emasculated because he asks about the trees like I can't take care of my own yard but I'm not sure if I can afford hiring somebody to trim the tree because of this conflict I'm having at work..." and so on.
Now we're trapped in the world of concepts. So we try to cling to the concepts we like (beautiful, handsome, talented, successful, powerful) and we reject or disown the ones we don't like (failure, ugly, weak, etc.). But the truth is that they're ALL concepts. They're ALL made up.
So if I'm completely lost in the world of concepts - there might be some temporary relief in trying to replace "negative" ones with "positive" ones via affirmations. But the underlying problem is that I'm STILL identified with a concept.
If words can make me feel "not enough", and then other words (affirmations) can make me feel "good enough", then I'm still vulnerable to OTHER words that will make me feel "not enough" again.
To speak to your point about resistance - it's like me believing I'm stuck (when I'm really not) and wanting to be free. No matter how much I want to be free, it's ANCHORED in the idea that I'm stuck. The stuck and the free are really the same thing.
The negative self concept and the positive self concept are sort of the same thing. It's a "you" that's built out of words and ideas.
Ultimately, if you're built of words and ideas, you can be destroyed by words and ideas!
So I think affirmations have their place, but they don't touch the fundamental issue that most people are struggling with in any lasting way.
I did several months of deep shadow work with retreats and coaches. Absolutely NOTHING came out of it. No hidden traumas, nothing I am running from, no hidden desires, no shadows anywhere. Very disappointed.
Then stop watching shadow work videos on UA-cam and go live your life and be free! :)
@@andrewvanhoff I do live my life, obviously 🤷♂️, at least I try, but every coach I know recommended it to me as I am stuck with my loneliness
Do you mind if I ask what being stuck with loneliness means to you?
@@andrewvanhoff It is an existential crisis as it overshadows my whole life. Everything, every activity becomes an effort to find a meaningful relationship. It takes my time, energy and life force, distracting me from my life purpose (beside reproduction). And all the effort led nowhere, which increases the frustration.
That certainly sounds exhausting. And I can understand how disheartening it must feel to come up without any answers.
At face value I'd suggest that does indeed seem to be the "shadow" presenting itself, but that's not necessarily helpful to hear, I understand.
It might be worth exploring why that's a problem for you in the first place? Feeling dedicated to finding a meaningful relationship isn't inherently a problem. And yet the way you describe it indicates that you're interpreting it as a problem, and it's having negative effects on your life. So of course, there's an inner conflict where part of you desperately wants something, and part of you wants to not want it so much.
So I would say it's less about "fixing" the behavior per se, and more about understanding the deeper motivation and inner conflict surrounding it. At the same time it's quite possible you've explored that already in your previous shadow work, so I apologize if that's not especially helpful.