I recently had the privilege of hearing Master Coach Derek Rydall speak at a Spiritual Practitioner conference in Los Angeles. I mainly went to re-connect with Derek, who was my Practitioner at Agape 18 years ago! I was delightfully surprised to discover that Derek also teaches about the Shadow.
He gave an all-day workshop that was chock-full of many valuable processes and teachings. One of the ones I want to share with you is his concept of the Shadow Tree. I created the diagram above to illustrate his concept for you.
Derek asked us to think of our Vision for our life. It could be that we find our life partner, or we find soul-satisfying work that pays us well, or that we become wealthy, or are completely healed in our bodies and enjoy total Health and Well-Being.
In order to discover the Shadows behind our Life Vision, Derek asked us to complete the following sentences:
“If I really achieve this, I’m afraid I’ll be… or I’ll become…””I’m afraid others will think I am…”
“I’ll make that mean that I am…”
“I’m afraid I won’t achieve this because…”
“I’m afraid to go for this because…”
“If I don’t achieve this…”
I hope you have some eye-opening and enlightening insights in finishing these statements for yourself! Once you know what is in your Shadow (which we’re usually blind to), you can free yourself of it once and for all.
Derek asked us to envision our Shadow as a tree (pictured in my diagram above – click on it to see a larger version). The main body of the tree, the trunk, is made up of all the areas in your Vision of your Dream Life that have a negative charge to them. As you can see, your past experiences, past events, and all their associated memories form the roots of your tree.
The conclusions you came to about your past are your Core Beliefs, and they are determining your future. They give rise to the branches that grow out of the trunk, which are your emotions – your emotional reactions that are based on your Core Beliefs about life and your past experiences. The leaves or fruit of your tree are the outcomes that you see in your life – the results that you are getting in the various areas of your life.
In order to heal your Shadow, Derek asked us to really feel the emotions, see the associated memories in your imagination, notice your outcomes and results, and then determine what Core Belief is at the root of it all. Once you have that, you turn it around with spiritual practices, prayers, affirmations, visualizations. You can visualize your Shadow tree and watch it changing, transforming. You can either watch the entire tree dissolve, or you can watch it change into a beautiful, healthy tree that bears delicious fruit – the results you DO want to see in your life.
As the New Year approaches, you may feel the call to finally, once and for all, get to the bottom of the Shadows that are holding you back from what you want to create in your life. My 6-month group class opens twice a year – January and July. If you would like a supportive group to help you, including one-on-one counseling with me, click on the “Let’s talk!” tab to the right and schedule a free consultation to see if you are a match for this program.
Wishing you a Shadow-free 2016!
Derek Rydall & Nijole Sparkis