One of the most important aspects of working on your personal growth, is finding and integrating your shadow self with shadow work prompts. The phrase shadow self, coined by Carl Jung, stated the shadow to be “the unknown dark side of the personality.”
Jung also said that, “Everyone carries a shadow,” and “The less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is.”
Self discovery is the ultimate goal of shadow work and shadow work prompts are an ideal way to get to the root of your shadow.
If you are on a spiritual awakening journey, you will find much of your shadow will be held in your Root Chakra and Sacral Chakra.
I have found that healing these 2 lower chakras has helped me immensely in finding and integrating my shadow self, or aspects of my shadow side.
Meditation has also been incredibly beneficial in doing shadow work, and I personally practice this Ancient Meditation for Reaching Higher States of Consciousness to do so.
I also have many tips for finding, meeting, and allowing your shadow self to come out in this post: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mindfulness Meditation.
If you are new to “shadow work” or using “shadow work prompts”, here are the basics about what shadow work is, and why it is so important to do…
Related Post: 5 Little-Known SHADOW WORK EXERCISES (from Spirit Guides!)
What is the Importance of Shadow Work?
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We all carry a shadow side, these are the negative aspects and vulnerabilities of ourselves that we’d rather pretend don’t exist. Often, our shadow selves are born in early childhood as the result of trauma.
When you ignore your shadow self, it holds power over you. When you do shadow work exercises, such as these shadow work journal prompts, the shadow is illuminated.
In other words, you become conscious of what you’ve previously shoved into your subconscious.
As you use these journal prompts to illuminate your shadow self, your conscious self is made aware of vulnerabilities, fears, and unconscious habits that have been directed by the negative aspects of your shadow.
When you choose to ignore your shadow side, and remain largely unaware of it, or unwilling to admit that it exists – The shadow gets darker, denser, and thicker.
This triggers knee-jerk “unconscious programming” reactions to challenges that arise in everyday life. We tend to react quickly to situations based on previous fears, loss, or doubt, rather than slowly and carefully responding.
For example, perhaps you were accidentally left somewhere as a small child by your parents. Now, as an adult, you have an “unconscious program” of “abandonment” running in your shadow self subconscious.
If you are unaware that this incident created pain that you simply shoved down, but never looked at and healed, you may have issues of being too clingy in your relationships as an adult, and ultimately pushing potential mates away.
What are Shadow Work Prompts?
Journal prompts for shadow work are essentially questions designed to probe and challenge the most negative traits of your subconscious psyche, such as: anger, fear, doubt, greed, victimhood, lack, distrust, and jealousy.
When you ask yourself shadow work questions, and answer as honestly as you can, you illuminate the side of you that you have most feared and repressed.
Once you are made aware of your shadow self, you can fully accept and unconditionally love it, which takes you off the “wheel of unconscious shadow self reactions”.
You can then begin to respond to your life, rather than react, run, hide, reject, or push away people or experiences that are healthy for you, or help you grow.
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How Do you Make a Shadow Work Journal?
To make a shadow work journal, you can use any lined journal or notebook as your base. Then, you can write out shadow work journal prompts and answer them as honestly and completely as possible.
You can also buy an already made for you shadow work journal from Amazon. I love this one! I’ve been doing shadow work for over 10 years, and made this DEEP dive shadow work journal & workbook to share what I’ve learned!
It includes the little-known shadow work exercises from the Teacher’s of Light, healing your inner child and identifying your triggers.
It takes a much deeper dive into illuminating your shadow side than any other shadow work journal!
Journaling is an incredible, very healthy way to Become a 5th Dimensional Master of yourself. Most people do not fully know, understand, or accept themselves.
Shadow work journaling is one of the best ways I’ve found to get to know myself, and promote healing and unconditional acceptance within.
Remember, no one else will see this work! This is simply for you to better get to know yourself and what scares you or holds you back.
Revealing your shadow will often heal parts of your inner child, or at least begin the process of healing from childhood.
These particular shadow work prompts are also excellent for healing, trauma, anxiety, and self-love (the place where these prompts will eventually lead to).
Shadow Work Prompts
These journal prompts for shadow work will help you with trauma, anxiety, healing, and finally, self discovery and self-love.
Use these shadow work prompts daily in your journal to get to the root of who you are, and what makes you tick.
These prompts may also help remove blocks that are holding you back from manifesting money and security.
What are Good Shadow Work Questions?
Good shadow work prompts are those that get to the root of many different issues, including those from early childhood that have shaped your current belief system. Many times, this happens without our conscious knowledge.
- What makes you anxious? Why?
- What makes you angry? Why?
- Do you feel safe? Why or why not? If not, how can you feel safer? What steps need to be taken to restore your feeling of safety?
- What scares you the most? If your greatest fear happened, what would be so bad about it?
- What are your worst traits? Why?
- When confronted I…: A: Go on defense and lash back, B: Run and hide, C: Calmly respond to the confrontation. Why do I react this way?
- What times have I felt most ashamed in my life? What caused the shame? (Religious teachings, guilt placed by parents, going against a moral code?)
- Think of a time you were wronged. How did that make you feel?
- If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Why would you choose this?
- What one negative thing can I not stop telling myself? Where does this thought stem from?
- People misunderstand my ____________. This makes me feel ___________________ because _____________________________________________________________________________.
- When I was a child, I was told not to ________________. This made me feel ________________________ because ______________________________________________.
- My healthiest relationship is with ______________________________. She/he makes me feel ______________________________________________________________________________.
- My unhealthiest relationship is with ____________________________. She/he makes me feel ______________________________________________________________________________.
- Do you have recurring nightmares? What are they about? Why do they scare you? How can you confront this fear in your waking life?
- What lies are you telling yourself at this time? Examples may be lies about your health, finances, mental stability, stress level, happiness level, etc… How can you better face your denial and reset your healthy path?
- What unfulfilled dream scares you the most? Why? What steps could you take to build up to conquering your fear?
- What was your last mean thought? Did you mean it? Did you tell others? Does this type of thought happen often? Why?
- When did you feel unloved as a child? Why?
- Do you feel unloved or unworthy as an adult? What steps can you take to give more love and self-worth to yourself?
- What is your biggest regret? Why? How can you make peace with having this regret now?
- Do you expect great things? Do you know good things are coming to you? Why do you deserve good, or why not?
- What main thing did you want in childhood that you didn’t receive? Why did you want this so badly? How has this shaped your adult self?
- What is your mother/caregiver’s worst trait? Do you share this trait? Why?
- What is your father/caregiver’s worst trait? Do you share this trait? Why?
- Do you have any trauma from childhood? Do you feel the traumatic event is your fault? Why?
- Do you allow yourself to be sad when unhappy life events arise? Why or why not?
- I am happiest when I am __________________________. Why?
- I am saddest when I am ___________________________. Why?
- Do you believe you can accomplish any task you set your mind to? Why or why not?
- What one obstacle is holding you back from achieving the life of your dreams? Why? How can you overcome this?
- What one person let you down as a child? Do you share any traits with this person?
- What was your biggest childhood fear? Why? How have you overcome this fear in adulthood?
- Would you describe your childhood as happy? Sad? Healthy? Balanced? Lonely? How have you overcome this in adulthood?
- Who did you look up to growing up? Did this person or organization live up to your childhood expectations? How did this make you feel?
- What is your most vivid memory of being disappointed as a child? Do you expect to be disappointed as an adult because of this?
- When I get sad or depressed, I cope by doing this? I learned this coping skill from _____________________________________________________________________________.
- I feel best when I am ________________________________ because _____________________________________________________________________________.
- Are you hard on yourself when you are not self-disciplined with food, exercise, and to-do lists? Why?
- What is the worst thing you’ve ever done to someone else? Why did you do it? Do you still feel guilty for this? Would making amends with this person make you feel better? How can you make up for it?
- What is the worst thing you’ve ever done to yourself? Why did you do it? How can you make up for it and show unconditional love to yourself now?
- Do you drink alcohol, or take prescription or recreational drugs to escape pain? What pain or emotions are you trying to escape? Can you allow yourself to feel this pain, accept it, and let it go?
- Who are you jealous of? Why? How can you emulate the traits you are jealous of, or work towards manifesting the things they have that you’d like to have?
- Do you like or dislike pets? Does this stem from a healthy love/untimely death of a beloved childhood pet? How can you work towards healing this if needed?
- What relationship has hurt you the most in your life? Whether the person is living or deceased, create a pros/cons list of how you both learned (pros) and were hurt (cons) by this relationship.
- Are you embarrassed by your sexuality? Why or why not?
- Have you experienced great grief or loss in your life? Do you feel you could have saved this person/animal if only you’d done this or that different? Why?
- Did you ever feel like a victim in childhood? In adulthood? Is it easier to play a victim now than take responsibility for any wrongdoing on your part?
- Do you blame your mother/father/caregiver for anything? If you put yourself in their shoes, do their actions make more sense to you? Were they stressed, overworked, financially burdened, had health issues, suffered from alcoholism, depression, etc…
- Is it easy for you to ask for help? Does it make you feel weak or vulnerable? Why do you think this is?
- I am grateful for these 10 things… Can be people, animals, your work, etc. Really feel the feelings of how these things bring you joy!
- These are my BEST 10 traits… Now that you’ve become aware of your shadows, give yourself props for all your greatest accomplishments/strengths!
- I would looove to have these 5 characteristics! Write them down and read them aloud for 30 days for best results.
Shadow Work Prompts: Synopsis
When you make a conscious effort to find and work with your shadow self through the use of shadow work prompts, you take great strides forward in truly understanding and accepting yourself.
You may not think that a time you felt abandoned or unloved as a child is affecting you that much in the present, but could have everything to do with why you have trouble forming healthy adult relationships.
I hope you find and illuminate your shadow self with these shadow work prompts so that you can understand and learn to unconditionally love yourself first, and then others.
As always, spread the light!
Jamie
Related Post: 5 Little-Known SHADOW WORK EXERCISES (from Spirit Guides!)
**The above information on shadow work prompts is for informational purposes only and is not to be considered advice. Please consult a licensed therapist or counselor if you are struggling with issues of severe depression, grief, trauma, or mental illness.**