ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Law of Polarities, embracing your Shadow

Updated on July 23, 2011

What is the Law of Polarities and the Shadow?

Do you ever find an aspect of yourself so unappealing that you wish you could extract it through some form of magic? Many of us have aspects of ourselves that we judge harshly and do our level best to restrict it, hide it and deny it.

The law of polarities is the law that states that for everything there is a light side and a dark side. Examples are daytime and nighttime, winter and summer, good days and bad days…and so on. The same is true for our talents and gifts.

In our personalities, this polar opposite is called the ‘Shadow’. Carol Pearson writes about this in her book ‘Awakening the Heroes Within’ – embracing your Archetypes. In this book you can take a series of personality quizzes coming up with the primary Archetype of your strengths, and the shadow archetype of your weaknesses.

You don’t really have to take a test or know your archetypes in order to learn how to embrace your shadow side. Embracing simply means acknowledging and giving its due. For instance: you are a great salesman, top of your company. It seems to come natural to you compared to some of your co-salesmen. You have a natural trait of persuasion…the shadow side of that trait could be your natural ability to manipulate others in order to get what you need or want. If you are aware of this trait, it is nothing to hide from or deny…instead, be aware when you are beginning to use it and honestly acknowledge it and change your communication asking directly for what you need or want. If you know you won’t get it outside of manipulation then you may want to ask yourself if you are now trying to take advantage.

What we Resist...Persists


Many of us hate to be angry. You may have been taught that being ‘angry’ is bad or to show anger is evidence that you cannot control your emotions. The polar opposite of anger is kindness and although kindness is preferred, anger too has its place. Anger unacknowledged becomes rage and rage is much more difficult to control or even understand since it is usually a conglomeration of a multitude of different emotions. Anger can be a conduit for change if one is willing to look at it closely. Let’s say you are in a relationship that is very abusive emotionally or physically, each time you experience this treatment, you get angry…anger being a secondary emotion may indicate fear and/or hurt. Only by identifying anger can you then identify why you are angry and look to change your situation. Anger can be destructive when it builds up into rage or is turned inward becoming depression.

One way to accept the Shadow is to a) listen to it b) find the positive aspect that is its opposite, you may be surprised and find a hidden talent, and c) dialogue with it, usually you will find it much more manageable and you are taking a huge leap to self-acceptance and loving yourself.

It’s really true that if you don’t love and accept yourself, there is no capacity to love and accept others.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)