Healing through Shadow Work Journaling

Shadow work journaling is not for the faint of heart.

That’s been my sentiment for the past several weeks while completing writing prompts where I examined past thoughts, feelings, memories, and experiences I’ve avoided and buried inside my soul. Unfortunately, they’ve manifested themselves at various intervals in my life like flashbacks of personal trauma when I’m triggered by people or things and/or nightmares about past decisions that prevent me from getting a good night’s sleep.

I’ve spent significant time answering a variety of open-ended questions I found searching the Internet, which included the following items:

What are the most valuable lessons you learned from negative experiences? How have these lessons made you a better or wiser person?

What was one time you remember feeling wronged as a child? How did you react? Has this affected you into adulthood? How?

How worthy do I honestly believe I am?

Why do I have issues with trust?

Take a look at the best and most enjoyable aspect of your life right now. What is your underlying fear in that area and why?

What emotion do you try to avoid (e.g., anger, sadness, jealousy)? What makes you afraid to feel it? What are you afraid will happen if you…