Welcome back to another episode on the Aaron Dowdy podcast.

In this episode, what I want to do is get a little bit deep with you.

Also a little bit vulnerable and share some of the different aspects of my life of how

I've been doing what is called inner child work and shadow work just in general.

And the purpose and the power of doing what I've been sharing with you is life changing.

As I've been using and becoming aware of the unconscious, that's what shadow work is.

Shadow work is the unconscious part of ourselves.

And it's why it's called the shadow.

It's kind of like the part that's behind us that's in the dark that we're not aware of.

And when you shine light on it, the shadow goes away and you begin to integrate that shadow

and you integrate that shadow, it changes a lot about your energy.

It changes a lot about how you carry yourself in the world.

There's many shadow complexes that people may develop growing up.

And many times the shadow self is a safety preservation mechanism that keeps us safe.

Safe from what we believe would be painful.

Safe what we believe would be emotionally hard for us.

And that's when we develop these safety mechanisms.

When I look at my life and I look at the things that I've been through growing up,

I can see definite points in my past when I decided made a choice that I have to be this way.

And many times I'm subconscious, but I have to be this way in order to gain love,

in order to be accepted, in order to gain validation, in order to play it safe.

These are all different parts of the shadow.

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