Embracing the dark side takes its time, but only then can we end our suffering and make peace with you.
Last update: 10 September, 2020
Find a quiet place and sit down. Carve out this moment for yourself, to embrace the dark side. Forget the noise, the duties and the “if by chance”… Let the whining, and sometimes impertinent voice coming from the mind fade away little by little. Going to the appointment with silence, that companion badly advertised by those who do not know how to appreciate it, but gratifying for those who are able to discover its essence. Listen to him.
You may think that it is impossible to pick up something when the other person is silent, but try it. Often, this is the bridge, the path, towards contact with ourselves. In this case, to embrace the dark side. So, don't be afraid and, of course, don't run away.
There is nothing wrong with looking in the mirror, touching your skin, caressing those wounds that we often insist on not looking at. Do not look away, do not close your eyes when there is something that hurts you. Embrace your monsters, embrace your dark side. Connect with yourself.
The darkness of the wounds
Facing suffering is not a pleasant experience, this is obvious. The ghosts that pass through our memories can be very intimidating and, at times, too authoritarian. They know perfectly our impenetrable paths, the most unstable ones and the shady roads that throw their roots and creep deep into our skin.
These ghosts they are the footprints of our past, the anchors that make us slaves to the pain of what we have experienced; sometimes, they feed it, to remind us that they are always there, that we have not yet overcome them. If we do not prevent it, they will even turn into those monsters that we will end up dreading so much: the fear of rejection, the fear of loneliness, the fear of failure ... They wear different masks and costumes to hide the false belief we cling to so much: being unable to be happy.
Wounds also have their dark side, the one from which only gray sadness, pain caused by thorns and the decay of dreams are perceived. A dangerous area, in which we can fall and that makes our life revolve around suffering. A thin cobweb that imprisons us little by little.
It is not easy to get rid of the splinters of the past, especially if they stick deep into our skin and use self-deception. Pain has infinite ways of expressing itself and, even if we think we are free from its condemnation, it may not be the case, especially if we have a tendency to avoid it.
The body can also be a means used to make its presence felt. David Alexander, professor and director of the Trauma Research Center in Aberdeen, says that "People who have suffered emotional damage often translate that pain into the physical."
For this reason, it is important to embrace the dark side of one's wounds and its influence on our world. It can be so cunning and insightful that it can alter our view of reality. And, in this way, we will be trapped in a spiral of infinite suffering.
"There's no scar, no matter how brutal it looks,
that does not contain beauty.
A precise story is told in it,
some pain. But also the end of him.
The scars, then, are the seams
of memory,
an imperfect finish that heals
harming us. Shape
that time finds
never to forget the wounds ".
-Marwan-
Embrace the dark side and the light that flows from it
Just as the dark side can destroy our existence, it also contains the impulse necessary to make us grow. It is extremely contradictory, right? But it is so. The ocean of suffering is immense, but do not forget that if we look the other way, we could see the mainland. The key is in balance.
It is about moving beyond the painful experience once it is identified and understood. Although our heart is full of pain, we can value everything that happens around us. Reality is not just suffering, even if at times we persist in seeing it this way. If we focus only on our thorns, if we don't see beyond our wounds, our mind will believe that these are the only thing that exists.
There is suffering, but the important thing is that we can decide whether to drown or to mature and grow, by the ups and downs of its waves. How? Embracing the dark side, embracing your own monsters and demons is the solution.
Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called this dark side of our personality archetypal. The basement in which our most repressed instincts, the sharpest selfishness and the most unstoppable desires are hidden.
We all suffer sooner or later, the important thing is to be able to recognize suffering, accept it and feel it, with goodness and without violence. Don't be too hard on yourself. And, once this is done, observe how it is generated, what its causes are, its true nature. What thoughts feed it? What attitudes strengthen it? What feelings make it vibrate again? We often add fuel to the fire of our words, actions and thoughts, without even realizing it.
The next step in the path of liberation is to stop creating suffering, avoiding everything that causes it. This step requires patience, a lot of effort and, of course, practice. We have ingrained an infinite number of ways to hurt ourselves, almost all related to our thoughts and automatisms. The key is to detect them and understand that nothing is permanent and that we are able to transform our lives. We are not puppets.
Going deep inside is not a simple process. It is necessary to climb over walls and break many hearts, but it is the path to find the light that illuminates our daily life, the path to well-being. The transformation will not be sudden, but gradual.
Embracing the dark side takes its time, but only then can we put an end to our suffering and make your peace. Often the monsters that rule us are nothing more than our fears asking us for help.
