January 18
Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual’s conscious life, the blacker and denser it is. Carl Jung
You pay a greater price for being so nice and deferential than for consciously showing your Shadow. First, to follow the latter path you must begin by respecting your own opinions more and those of others less, particularly when it comes to your areas of expertise, to the field you have immersed yourself in. Trust your native genius and the ideas you have come up with. Second, get into the habit in your daily life of asserting yourself more and compromising less. Do this under control and at opportune moments. Third, start caring less what people think of you. You will feel a tremendous sense of liberation. Fourth, realize that at times you must offend and even hurt people who block your path, who have ugly values, who unjustly criticize you. Use such moments of clear injustice to bring out your Shadow and show it proudly. Fifth, feel free to play the impudent, willful child who mocks the stupidity and hypocrisy of others. Finally, flout the very conventions that others follow so scrupulously.
Daily Law: Keep in mind that power lies in asserting your uniqueness, even if that offends some people along the way. Study your Shadow side today.
The Laws of Human Nature, 9: Confront Your Dark Side—The Law of Repression