Writing the Shadow: Open the doors

In The Dark Side of the Light Chasers, Debbie Ford uses a metaphor of a castle to explore the idea that we all have hidden and repressed parts of ourselves. The castle has a thousand unique rooms, some beautiful, some strange, others exotic, or scary. Each has a precious gift within.

As a child, you ran freely through all those rooms, playing in every one, curious about what you might find. Expanding your horizons.

But over the years, you closed certain doors because of criticism, rejection, judgment. For some, these doors might have been closed through violence, or trauma.

You closed other doors because the rooms weren’t appropriate in your society, culture, or family, and still more through shame, embarrassment, and fear. You locked the precious gifts away.

But what if you could roam your castle freely once more?

What if you could open the doors covered in cobwebs that you have avoided for so long?

What if those precious gifts remain inside and you might rediscover them, and use them to create your most important work?

Perhaps you’ve already glimpsed some long-ignored rooms you might want to explore during the previous sections of this book. Perhaps ideas are forming as to how you can bring aspects of your Shadow into the light and incorporate them into your writing.

This final section takes the journey further to help you open the doors into the rest of your castle, mine the precious gold in your Shadow, and share it in your books.

Questions:

•   Imagine your castle with all its rooms. Which doors did you close and why?

•   Which doors would you like to open again?

•   Which doors are you afraid of entering?

•   What precious gifts might be hidden inside?

Resource:

•   The Dark Side of the Light Chasers: Reclaiming Your Power, Creativity, Brilliance, and Dreams — Debbie Ford