Play it small, play it safe… when did you learn to hide your brilliance from those who were threatened by your light?

Which rules did you learn as a child? Who taught you to push away the brightest parts of your intelligence and creativity to stay average and safe?

There is tremendous potential in your unlived personality, and golden shadow repression is a normal but tragically restrictive process which begins in early childhood.

Remember those times in school when you were told to stay in line with the other kids, or not encouraged to go above and beyond certain standards despite showing signs of talent or giftedness.

Those were the days of mixed messages: attainment and achievement on the one hand, but hush-hush conformity to avoid standing out too much from the others.

As an adult, you’ve probably been in several situations where you did something particularly remarkable but, instead of being met with genuine celebration, you were given back-handed compliments insinuating that you were undeservingly lucky or that it wouldn’t last.

Maybe you’ve been told to stop bragging, to stop flexing your talents.

Arrogance isn’t a good look.

Our character develops in congruence with our environment, and the heavy-handed feedback from our family and friends clusters into an internalised self-image which lingers and whispers from the inside: “play it small, play it safe.”

Fortunately, you still have the self-actualising impulse.

You have the potential to move towards your potential.

I want you to acknowledge, understand, and accept that there were moments in your ego development when your golden shadow was trying to push through, but it was tragically shut down, and now is the time to de-repress your brilliance.

Feel the frustration of having dimmed your light, and ask yourself questions like these:

When did I dim my light… what age?

What kind of work lights me up?

What is the essence of my true desire?

Find your shadow, and illuminate your future.

In truth, golden shadow integration is one of the most rewarding and exciting aspects of inner work because it brings foundational self development concepts into a more psychologically informed and often spiritually imbued perspective without floating off into spiritual bypass or over-identifying with your higher self.

Grounded and uplifted, with psyche and soul forever intwined in the ever-maturing journey of anticipation and attainment.

Jordan

P.S. If you’ve enjoyed this mini-lecture in golden shadow psychology, then you’re exactly the kind of person I want to meet inside the Shadow Work Library.

https://courses.jordanthornton.com/shadow-work-library/

I love teaching advanced psychology concepts, and it took me four years to research and curate this full-spectrum curriculum. Join me for brilliance.