3 Ways to Spot Your Shadow in Action

What you deny within yourself doesn't disappear

1. Projection

Projection is when you take something unacceptable about yourself, such as your feelings, thoughts, tendencies, and fears, and place it on someone else.

People tend to project their problems onto others. A person who projects places their feelings, flaws, and other quirks onto another person, typically a person with whom they disagree.

A person who projects puts the blame on someone else in order to ignore their own problems.

The things we don’t like about ourselves, we point out to others. We tend to project our shadows — repressed anger, guilt, shame, and other traits we don’t like about ourselves — onto others. We lash out at others for things we don’t like about ourselves.

It can be an unconscious defense mechanism, or a deliberate defense tactic arising from the ego.

It is important to note that projections are contained in our blind spots. Although we may not be fully aware of it at the time, our minds are capable of projecting things in situations that affect us emotionally.

People often project discomfort or even shame that remains subconscious and that they don’t want to face. Seeing it closely, it’s actually a way for a person to deal with a difficult trait without realizing it’s their own.

Projection is something almost everyone has done at some point, but it’s hard to recognize when you’re doing it. To stop projecting, awareness is a good first step. Become aware of how you project yourself into the outside world. Self-awareness is the key to stopping the projection. It might come unconsciously, but with self-awareness, you can correct it.

People, places, and things serve as mirrors to reflect your true self as the universe restores you to wholeness.

2. Triggers

Conflicts in our lives are not just triggers — they are messengers telling us what we need to work on and heal. We sometimes think we’ve healed everything, not realizing that certain dark things like to hide in the shadows.

The triggers point out to you what’s hidden in the shadows that you need to see. They show you what needs to be seen so that you can shine a light on it.

Triggers are often viewed as negative things. As we go about our days, they push us to deal with things we don’t want to. Triggers explore the darkness of the shadows, pulling everything hidden to the surface.

Triggers often serve as a reminder of past traumas. If there is something you have not healed that interferes with the flow of your life, triggers will step in and bring them up. Triggers serve as a guide to showing you what you need to heal. They reveal what’s hidden in the shadows and what holds you back from becoming the person you were meant to be.

Triggers come to open your eyes to things that are suppressed. They are messengers and invitations to dive deeper into unconscious things. The messengers are the events that cause you to experience a strong emotional response.

When you name triggers as such, you are able to reduce their impact on you. It allows you to step back from your emotional reaction and observe it instead of living it. Your triggers can reveal your wounds and shadows if you pay attention to them.

Your life will be filled with triggers, but you can’t run away from them. You have to be triggered, and often because your triggers will lead to your spiritual growth.

Dealing with triggers means digging deep into painful things that pierce the heart every time you think about them.

Catch triggers before acting act on them.

Whenever you’re triggered, you will have a lot of reactions, but no matter what you do, don’t take it out on the person who triggered you. The problem is never the person who triggered you. The problem isn’t external. When we are triggered, we often try to change something in the external environment, point fingers at the outside, or simply run away and hide in our little safety bubble. But our problems aren’t external. They’re all internal.

Once you understand your triggers and address whatever limiting beliefs are there, you won’t get triggered again. And even if you do, it won’t move you like it used to. So instead of retracting into your shell, you’re expanding.

You can reframe your thoughts when you get triggered. You can see what’s coming up for you to deal with so you can heal and feel free. You can look at the deeper issues instead of shutting down.

By opening up more and more, you will be able to alchemize your own heavy emotions and dense energy, and will naturally be able to deal with your triggers more easily and gracefully.

In working with triggers, you can remove fearful programming, barriers, and all the hurts that hide within you, and in doing so, you will be able to see your true self come forth to shine and become the best, highest, and greatest version of yourself. You will then experience more peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and abundance in your life.

3. Patterns

Your shadow is hard to spot, especially if you’ve suppressed a large part of yourself. It is through patterns in our lives that we discover aspects of our shadow. These hidden aspects of yourself want to be seen and accepted by you.

The shadow manifests as patterns because it reflects itself into our reality to be seen and integrated. Shadows will show up in a variety of situations until you’re ready to face them and break the cycle.

The conscious mind is the physical mind, whereas the subconscious mind is the habitual mind. This explains why habits and patterns are so difficult to break. They are subconscious and are buried deep within the mind.

Patterns are opportunities that present themselves before you in order to help you pass life tests, learn life lessons, and ultimately improve your life.

Since we cannot see the subconscious mind clearly and are unable to notice it, we can call it shadow. We can compare our conscious mind to light because we can see it clearly and are aware of it. Our subconscious is made up of all the unacceptable and unwanted aspects of ourselves that we reject. Because of this, it’s so important to become aware of your subconscious programming and change them if they’re not beneficial. It never hurts to explore your own mind from the inside out.

There is always a problem where there is a negative pattern. Your life and the patterns cannot lie to you. You have to notice them to break them.

To shift your reality, you have to reprogram your subconscious mind. To do this, you have to look at your life and figure out what you’re experiencing over and over again. When you notice a pattern in your life, you know it’s a subconscious belief that’s creating it.

Integrating and wholeness are natural states for humans, so the subconscious will constantly try to get your attention to integrate what’s already there. The fractured self seeks to become whole, and you will be given the opportunity to see what you have suppressed, rejected, denied, and disowned.

If you do not pay attention to your shadows, they can negatively impact your actions and life experiences. The shadow does not disappear when you deny it. It simply fades away from your conscious awareness.

The more you become aware of and accept your shadow self, the more embodied you become and have more control over yourself and your life.

© 2022 Kimberly Fosu. All rights reserved.

Note: This article is only meant to provide spiritual guidance and lighthearted content.

Exciting news!

My new book “100 Billion Souls: A guide to a godly spiritual awakening” is coming out soon. The purpose of the book is to help you not only wake up but to help you wake up on the right side, free of the dangers and the evils on the spiritual path. Join my launch team to help me reach and teach 100 billion souls! You get a free ebook and my lifelong friendship. Thanks! 😃

Still got questions

Book a coaching session | Join my email list for random insights | I appreciate my patrons and those who buy me water. ❤

Connect with me

Do you have a Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube account? I would love to make friends and connect with you there.