Free workbook · Shadow work · No email required
The Shadow Work Handout
What Jung actually meant, and eleven questions worth sitting with.
About the workbook
Shadow work has become a genre of internet content — mostly a list of dramatic questions and an invitation to feel bad about the answers. That is not what Jung was describing, and it is not especially useful. This is the version a therapist would actually hand you.
It covers what the shadow is (the disowned parts, not the bad ones — including the golden shadow, the good qualities you exiled), how to recognise one by its disproportion rather than by looking for it, three conditions to meet before you start, and eleven prompts with a note on what each is doing. It is explicit about where journalling stops being enough and needs another person in the room.
Using and sharing it
Free to download, print, and share with clients. No resale. Please credit teocounselling.com. If you are a clinician, librarian, or community organisation and want to link to this workbook, the page you are on is the one to link to.
This workbook is educational. It is not therapy, not an assessment, and nothing in it is a diagnosis. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. In Canada, the Suicide Crisis Helpline can be reached by calling or texting 988, at any hour.
Download the PDFWorking on this with someone
A workbook can take you a surprising distance on its own. If you would rather not do it alone, TEO offers virtual therapy in British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland & Labrador — evenings and weekends, with a free 15–20 minute consultation first and no obligation afterward.
Related: Self-esteem & identity.
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