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Peter Pan and His Shadow
It’s funny what pops into our minds as we get ready for bed. The other night I was all tucked in, when a memory slipped into my mind as often happens when we try to sleep. When I was little, I loved listening to the story of Peter Pan as he chased his shadow that somehow falls off. Mrs. Darling, finding Peter’s shadow, tucked it away in a draw for safe keeping. While J.M. Barrie’s symbolism was meant to shed light on the ending of childhood, it is only now as an adult, that I am understanding the spiritual meaning behind this scene. It’s interesting how this memory even came to me, in a moment of darkness, laying in my bed I suddenly remember Peter accepting his shadow before Wendy was able to sew it back on. It hit me in that moment that this is what we do with trauma. We tuck it away for safe keeping until we are either ready or forced to deal with it.
This is how shadow work begins. When we do shadow work, we are learning to become aware of beliefs, ideas, triggers that we have been avoiding, parts of ourselves that we tuck away, so they do not “cause trouble”. Acknowledging these aspects of ourselves allows us to heal and find balance within ourselves.
As a Reiki practitioner, I read a lot about spirituality, shamanism, and shadow work, because it is not until we can accept our shadow that we can truly accept who we are as adults. Let me explain it in terms of balance, we all know there are two sides to a coin and that light cannot exist without darkness. The same thinking applies to being true to yourself. Balance is a delicate aspect of reality, as there is no true equal balance. To maintain balance, one must continuously play a dance of juggling balls, there is always movement. Without that movement we become stagnant, stuck tucked away in a drawer somewhere half living and afraid to move forward, not unlike Peter Pan who didn’t want to grow up. We can do our best to stay in light, but without the shadow sides of ourselves, we cannot fully step into ourselves.
Peter Pan went searching for his shadow because without it a part of him was missing, this is what we do with shadow work. We find the parts of us we’ve tucked away and learn how to embrace them as a part of who we are. We can pretend we do not have a shadow, but when we do, we are ignoring a part of ourselves and in doing so holding ourselves back. When we can sit in our shadow self and understand the reasons these parts of us have been tucked away, we can better understand ourselves and begin to become whole. While our shadow may hold parts of us, we may not be ready to see or show, it also holds pieces of the puzzle that is us.
