I've spent a lifetime trying to eradicate my shadow side. When I couldn't erase it, I tried softening it, hoping I would one day evolve beyond it. My success rate to date has been modest, to put it kindly.
This morning, I was let off hook. I was listening to an interview with Deepak Chopra who said that the only people who don't have a shadow side are those in the dark! So it's ok to be imperfect?! You can tell this man isn't a Catholic!
I'd never really 'got' it before, but now I do. I'm ok the way I am.
What a relief.
What matters is accepting the shadow, rather than denying it. The spiritual path isn't about becoming good, it's about becoming Acceptance. Acceptance gives us a degree of distance, of detachment from ourselves, and it is in that tiny sliver of spaciousness divine transformation occurs.
It only takes this tiny shift for us to become aligned with the deep heartbeat of the Universe, which can then transform us and purify us. The hard work is done for us; this explains why I haven't got so far with this endeavour over the past 20 years. I was trying to do the impossible. But it wasn't my job.
I'm not off to rob and pilage, but to begin the discipleship of accepting my shadow when it turns up, instead of beating myself up for failing yet again.
What a relief.
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