The Shadow Effect audiobook

Isn't it strange, when you have a book on your shelf for quite some time, and suddenly the spine seems to glow and call out to you "pick me, pick me". This happened with The Shadow Effect, so it went into my travel bag when I was packing for a holiday last week. I then came across the author Marianne Williamson, but could not find the book title concerned, on line. Turns out, she is a contributing author in this book. What can I say about The Shadow Effect? Firstly, I think it should be a text-book in schools, especially Debbie Ford's explanation of projection - and how if we read all the people that really get up our nose, and why, we will discover that what we are finding so annoying, is something that we really need to bring out from the shadows within ourselves. Believe me, I have tried to disprove this theory all week, and I cannot. She is pretty spot on.This was a book, which after reading, I needed to pull my journal out, and then found myself writing for days. I found Deepak Chopra's section quite difficult to follow (but am seeing him live on 2nd August - so will be curious to see if he covers this material). Lastly, the opening chapter by Marianne Williamson, literally reduced me to tears. I have simply been plagued my whole life with my inability to reconcile mankind's ability to wreak such intense pain and suffering on each other, which is in such diabolical contrast to the extreme beauty and kindness I also know we have the capacity to be. These opposing sides of human nature at times cause me such despair that I can barely stand to live in the world. This book, for the first time in my life, literally offered an answer to this question, and a solution for humankind to recognise and accept both the light and the darkness inside us all, and to learn to read our own darknesses as the signposts that lead us back to the light, rather than 'badness' that we have to bury, hide, or deny, which ultimately causes us endless shame, and a lack of 'wholeness' and complete self-acceptance. To gain that of course, is the first step to ever finding real love and acceptance of everyone else.For me, this book was a revelation. Now I am off to watch the movie on line, and then probably to do the on-line course. I have never read anything that rang quite so true before. This is the sort of book I want to go out and buy a copy for every single person I know. I love their shadow selves already!

The book takes you to a journey from the self, through the self, to the self.

I listened to this book as an audio book while I rode my stationary bike in the living room. I'm not against counting audiobooks on Goodreads, so I will. :PI very much enjoyed this book. It gave some great insight into the human psyche, and confirmed things about people in general that you were always hoping were true. We all have a dark side, and it threatens continuously to destroy us. The book was read by its authors, and it was well read and interesting. I thought Debbie Ford's voice was a little whiny, and I thought Marianne Williamson was too sure of herself by saying that if we never find God, we will never find our light. She came across as a little preachy and self-righteous. The message of the book is gold. It reaches out to you to let you know that your inner conflicts are part of a universal condition, and that was truly enlightening for me. My one problem with this book is that while it pulls the shadow into the light, it doesn't really focus on the removal of it from our lives. Okay, meditation was suggested, as was changing the way that you think...but neither of these are practical steps, and they seem overly simplified. Now that the shadow is 'out of the closet' so to speak, we need a practical follow-up book that gives us ways in which to move away from all of our negativity and fear.

Such an amazing, thought-provoking book. I already love Debbie Ford's work on the shadow in her book 'Courage' and combined with Marianne Williamson's strong writing about truth and love this was an amazing book to read with some awesome tools to put in place in your own life. Can't wait to read it again already!

** spoiler alert ** THE SHADOW EFFECT* We have been conditioned to fear the shadow side of life and the shadow side of ourselves.* Once split off, the fragment that is “bad” loses touch with the central core of the self, the part we consider “good” because of its seeming lack of violence, anger, and fear.* In clarity the self comes together and sees itself without blinders. You have only one self. It is the real you. It is beyond good and evil.* unhappiness or happiness gets transmitted to the heart, liver, intestines, and kidneys.* In order to have manifestation, you need opposing energies. You need your enemies to be who you are.* The self is fluid and constantly changing, meaning your own self and the self you share with everyone else* Any change you make at the level of the soul also creates a change in the outer world, which is the mirror of the soul* Judgment is guilt wearing a moral mask to disguise its pain.* If you believe the problem is with “them,” you have projected your own fear instead of taking responsibility for it.* To avoid feeling that we’re not good enough, we see others around us as not good enough.* A false state of self-acceptance is created based on “I’m okay, but you aren’t.”* “You are not in the world. The world is in you.”* feeling angry is useful, while aiming anger in the form of blame isn’t.* Detachment doesn’t show indifference. It shows that you really don’t want negativity to stick to you.* Not many of us can say that our main problem is an excess of sympathy for others.* There is no reason for emotions ever to grow old, because the source of freshness and renewal is always at hand. Your emotional body should remain energetic, alert, flexible, and pleasing to experience. I think a single phrase, “the lightness of being,” covers all of these qualities.* From the perspective of wholeness, you can balance the darkness and the light, being a slave to neither.* Potential is the same as unseen possibilities. Either you see that something is possible or you don’t. So the impossible is just another name for the unseen.* the level of the problem is never the level of the solution.* You are choosing not to transcend when you struggle at the level of the problem.* Your core self is stable and permanent; therefore it has nothing to fear from change.* the world will transform itself from a place of constant risk to the playground of the unexpected.* Stop looking for the right one. Be the right one.* Remove the fear, and what remains is love.* You can’t satisfy your ego by giving it everything it wants, because the ego’s whole reason for existence is to accumulate.* Your true self is acceptable not because you are so good, but because you are complete. All things human belong to you.* The most profound effect of meditation is to transform your awareness.* Artists are well aware of this; their muse doesn’t answer on a time schedule.PART II* Sometimes, we even forget that we ever wanted anything different from what we have.* Slowly I slipped away from any semblance of the innocent child I once was and created an outer persona that exuded confidence and success.* What you’ve been hiding from can actually give you what you’ve been trying hard to achieve.* If left unexamined, our shadow will emerge from the darkness to sabotage our life when we least expect and want it.* When our precious energy isn’t tied up in hiding from or overcompensating for our self-destructive impulses, we are gifted with the clarity and the motivation we need to build an unshakable foundation for an inspiring future.* All these pairs of opposites exist within us because we are dualistic beings made up of opposing forces.* It is our birthright to be whole, to have it all. But to do this, we must be willing to take an honest look at ourselves and step out beyond our judgmental mind.* Having faced our own internal demons, we are filled with peace and compassion in the presence of other people’s dark side.* We learned from our parents, teachers, friends, and society that to win love and acceptance we had to adhere to certain prewritten scripts.* it became safer to listen to the voices of authority rather than trust in our authentic nature.* We learned how to shut off life and actually became comfortable doing it.* The quest for the perfect life, the perfect role, and the perfect persona will always leave us unfulfilled* It is nothing to be ashamed of, because most of us have a public life and a secret life* Maybe our distaste for our cheating parent causes us to keep attracting partners who can’t be trusted and are emotionally abusive* we must find healthy ways to express our repressed aspects so that we can be safe from behaviors that can sabotage our life.* we can instead open the cellar doors and exchange our secret life for an authentic life.* The more we try to suppress the aspects of our personality that we deem unacceptable, the more they find mischievous ways of expressing themselves.* All self-sabotage is an externalization of the internal shame hidden in the dark recesses of our unconscious minds.* yet the moments we meet our own disowned darkness are not only some of the most painful, but also the most fertile times of our life.* Self-sabotage is nothing more than an unwillingness on the part of our higher self to continue playing the role we have assigned to ourselves.* Projection is an involuntary defense mechanism of the ego; instead of acknowledging the qualities in us that we dislike, we project them onto someone else.* when others come along and reflect back to you an image of a self you don’t want to be, you become reactive.* Owning our projections is a courageous and yet humbling experience we all must go through to find peace.* We don’t have to look far to discover that we are usually doing the exact thing we are judging others for.* It will distract us from the relationship as a whole and, instead, force our eye and our attention to what we believe is wrong about others.* When you understand projection, you will never see the world the same way again.* when people wake up from the trance of projection, the people they have been projecting onto change—they become free to show up differently.* When we can see them as they are, release them from our own judgments and clouded perceptions, a new reality will emerge* The repetitive patterns we find ourselves trapped in always echo back to us feelings that accompanied the original wound.* You must accept the dualistic view that being human comes with both a healthy dose of selfishness and an equal dose of selflessness.* Freedom is being able to choose whoever and whatever we want to be at any moment in our life.* It somehow feels easier to repeat the past than explore a different outcome.* It’s best said by C. G. Jung: “I’d rather be whole than good.”* The point is you must forgive yourself for possessing all these human qualities and find a healthy respect and a healthy outlet for each and every aspect of yourself* if you are attracted to a quality in someone else, no matter how great, it also exists inside you.* This was the divine plan for my life, and I never would have glimpsed it if I hadn’t embraced all of my projections.PART III* When we think with love, we are cocreating with God and therefore cocreate more love.* In the absence of prayer or meditation—an experience of shared love between Creator and the created—we are easily tempted to perceive without love, thus entering the shadow zone within ourselves.* Our busyness is often our enemy, making it hard for us to slow down long enough to breathe in the ethers of the spiritual planes.* “Whenever you are having that kind of negative thought, go into naming all the things you have to be grateful for.”* The problem, then, was not just the presence of my negativity, but the absence of my positivity!* Meditation is not just something that relaxes us; it is something that harmonizes the energies of the universe.* Until there is a conscious movement away from fear toward love, the dynamic energy of fear will be acting as a destructive force that takes no prisoners.* If we identify only with the mortal world, then fear does indeed seem justified. But if we extend our perceptions beyond this world, then we see things in a higher and more hopeful light.* Atonement is a kind of cosmic reset button, by which mortal shadow thoughts are undone and replaced by the perfection of love.* Ultimately, the healing of the world will emerge not from our changing and correcting others, but from our willingness to change and correct ourselves.* what we do surrender and atone for is then transformed.* More damage is inflicted by people who think they have it all together than by people who have been humbled by the realization that they probably do not* We heal when we feel forgiven. We heal in the presence of compassion* It can be difficult to forgive someone whose behavior has hurt us, unless we have grounded our perceptions in a constant effort to see beyond the darkness of the personality.* It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.If you scored 38–75 points: You may not be experiencing the full weight and impact of the shadow at this moment, but you are likely expending a lot of effort to repress and hide parts of yourself and your life that you do not like. The energy you are using to keep things from spinning out of control—whether at work, at home, or with your health and well-being—would be put to better use if it were directed toward achieving your goals and desires.

Finished reading this today, a very interesting read. Lots of golden nuggets of truth and how to be a better person. The shadow is real, don't deny it, just learn to work with it. "Its only when we have the courage to face things exactly as they are without any self-decption or illusion, that a light will develop out of events by which the path to success may be recognized" - I Ching.

A sombra existe dentro de cada um de nos e esse livro explica como devemos fazer para identificar e compreendê-la para nos tornarmos pessoas melhores. Indico a leitura para aquele que estão pronto para analisar seu próprio comportamento e medos internos.

Excelente audiolibro.

A wonderful little book for those who are serious about doing the work of balancing their soul.

What a truly educating book on spirituality. I ended up highlighting almost the entire book !