Panache

Shadow work journaling is a transformative process for emotional healing and self-discovery. It requires courage to face and heal deep emotional wounds by acknowledging hidden parts of yourself.

This guide shares 10 key things to remember while shadow work journaling, helping you approach the practice with patience, honesty, and compassion.

Whether you’re starting out or deepening your journey, these tips support personal transformation, mental wellness, and greater self-awareness. Embrace shadow work journaling to unlock healing, peace, and your true potential.

Also Read: What is shadow work? And how to do it right through journaling?

Be honest with yourself.

One of the most basic requirements of shadow work is that you need to be honest with yourself, no matter the situation. The objective of shadow work is to come to terms with everything you hide from yourself or try to escape from.

One of the tools that you can use to escape from your feelings is sabotaging yourself. And that would lead to no results when you are trying to know yourself or heal your past wounds. Therefore, try to be as honest as possible.

You need a safe space to express yourself in your shadow work journal. So, make sure that you create a similar space for yourself. Hide your notebook or create a digital notebook with a password.

Remember, you are trying to do it for yourself and not for anyone else. So, you’ve got to honestly express yourself as you do with your doctor when you fall sick.

Also Read: How to journal honestly?

Be kind to yourself.

When you are doing shadow work journaling, it is natural to confront emotions like shame, guilt, jealousy, insecurity, etc. But that does not means emotions are inherently part of you or define you in any capacity.

Instead, accept them as these are what make you human. Process these emotions in a healthy way and try to find where they stem from. And during this process, try to be kind to yourself.

Be accepting and understanding of yourself. Try to give yourself a free pass for surviving everything. And treat yourself the way you would have treated a kid for experiencing negative emotions. It is necessary for personal growth and healing.

Don’t be judgmental.

“There is no way I can do it.”, “I can’t do things like that.”, “I never have such emotions in my heart.” These are examples of a few thoughts that may come across when you are journaling about your suppressed feelings, emotions, or desires.

However, being judgmental would only take you down the wrong path in the healing process. Instead, understand that you are a human and thus you are made of complex emotions. Therefore, it is normal to experience any emotion that you may come across during your shadow work.

All you need to do is acknowledge them and make them your own. If you think that you did something wrong, forgive yourself and take a lesson from it. It is necessary for growth and building your personality as a whole.

Take a break when it gets too hard.

Shadowwork journaling is not for the faint of heart. It is crucial and only for those who are brave. This activity is for those who want to confront their true self and intend to accept all parts of themselves, good or bad.

There may be times when you feel it is too overwhelming for you. Your feelings may get the best of you, and you don’t want to continue doing it. Under these circumstances, I would not suggest that you leave journaling altogether, but take a break for a few days.

During these times, you may practice other healing methods such as writing a letter to yourself, writing a letter to people who did you wrong but now you want to forgive them, or doing exercises to heal your inner child.

It takes time.

Shadowwork cannot be restricted to time. You cannot say that if you invest a particular amount of time in it, you will complete your shadow work and be healed. The more complex your emotions are, the more time it would take to detangle.

The deeper your wounds are, the more time they will take to heal. So, be patient with yourself. As it is going to take more time than you can initially think of. Since it is a personal process, do not set goals around it.

You can take the help of a friend or a therapist. A second or third person would be ideal to let you know if any changes have happened since you started doing shadow work to the time when you complete that process. The changes are so slow that you may not realize but people helping you to heal would certainly do.

Focus on one thought/ feeling/emotion at a time.

What suppressed feelings are you going to start with? Is it anger? Is it a shame? Is it a shame about your body? Is it shame around lust or love? Is it insecurity about your career? Or is it all of them? You may have all of them, but choose one aspect to deal with at a time. Or it may get overwhelming.

Let’s start with anger. What makes you so angry? Is it a particular pattern? Have you suppressed your anger for a while? Have you been expressing your anger as a means to be understood? Or is it a repressed angst to be seen? Answer these questions, and you shall find how you can see your personality as clear as a reflection.

Furthermore, you may find that this anger might be the cause of your sadness or gloom. These two emotions are related, but one may be the cause of the other. Try not to get confused and focus on one wound to be healed completely.

Observe, don’t indulge.

If you are going to focus on one emotion, what are you going to do with the rest of them? The same thing you do when you meditate. You let your thoughts flow and observe their flow from a distance without indulging in them.

 Meditation is one of the supplementary healing tools that you can use to your advantage while you are practicing shadowwork journaling. You can dive deep into that and learn what parts need your attention the most.

You can note down your thoughts and later come back to them to understand how you are going to address them. This exercise alone will make you self-aware. You will learn to let go of the things that don’t serve you and control what has been controlling you all this time.

Be curious and not critical.

One of the conclusions that you will come up with after doing some journaling is that you are a ball of complicated and tangled emotions. You may like or dislike some of those emotions and complications. But that doesn’t make you different from them. They are a part of you.

And by that means, you need to be curious about them. Don’t criticize your emotions or yourself when you see them being a part of you. When you see, you are insecure, jealous, or feel low around certain people, that’s still you. So, get on the journey and explore. Explore your inner world. And be excited about what you are going to find.

Write, but don’t edit.

When you are trying to honestly express your thoughts in your journal, you have so much on your mind. You may think of how certain things made you feel. You may remember a traumatic memory that you buried deep inside you. Or you may feel the pain of circumstances you never thought would happen.

When your mind is engaged with so many things, your writing, spelling, and grammar are the last things you are expected to think of. And that is how it should be. Your journal is your pious sanctuary. If it’s comprehensible enough for you, it can remain far away from the confines of language norms, good handwriting, and spelling.

Never bother yourself with these things when you are writing in your journal. Instead, focus on expressing yourself with utmost honesty. You can choose the language, tone, and style of your expression. Your journal implies no rules.

Your triggers are a pathway.

When you are shadowwork journaling, it can be extremely triggering. You may scream, cry, whimper, or weep. Some memories may give you goosebumps. While others can bring tears to your eyes, and you may feel how your heart comes out of your chest.

That is why shadow work journaling is only for the most courageous people. For the ones who are ready to confront their deepest and darkest parts. But you can’t stop when you feel the pain. Your triggers are a pathway to understand and heal yourself.

It is the way to heal all the pain that you have been avoiding feeling because it was too much for you. That pain is heavy. It weighs you down. It weighs down all the positive emotions within itself, which stops you from living your life to the fullest. So, embrace it and keep moving forward.

Also Read: How to become stronger than your emotions?

Conclusion.

Now, that you know what lies ahead, are you ready to address your emotional and mental entanglements? Get your notebook out, start meditating, and start writing.

Remember, this journey can be hard, and you don’t have to be hard on yourself. Ask for help from your friends, loved ones, or therapist. They will help you navigate through it.