There’s joy in recognising our strengths and it’s pretty easy to do. Exploring our darker side, however, is rather uncomfortable because it’s wrapped up with shame and guilt. What if you could let go of that concept and use your shadow values to your advantage?
Plenty of people tell me they’re very self aware, but to ignore our shadow self is to know only half of the whole.
Most of us know what our ‘golden’ values are, by simply recognising what’s important to us. Some of my values include knowledge, freedom and leadership.
But if I’m honest with myself about what those values give me without attaching meaning to it, they’d translate to:
💜Golden Value = Knowledge / Shadow Value = Being superior
💜Golden Value = Freedom / Shadow Value = Getting my own way
💜Golden Value = Leadership / Shadow Value = Being admired
The magical opportunity here is that leaning on both Golden and Shadow values allows you to increase your motivation to achieve what you want in life. So if there’s something you’ve been putting off for a while, look at it again with this new lens and see how it shifts.
For example, writing a new leadership program allows me to share knowledge, offer people freedom and to lead others. It also allows me to feel superior, get my own way and be admired in the process, which is the other half of what drives me to do it. And that’s OK!…
