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Shadow hunter

The shadow consists of an area of darkness when light is blocked and it is sharply contrasted by an area of brightness. 

What is in the shadow is challenging to identify because it is vague and partially or fully hidden.

Metaphorically, shadow refers to subconscious and unconscious beliefs and motivations, and while they are not necessarily negative, they signify something obscured and difficult to see.

Where there is full light, darkness cannot exist, and so there is a delicious sense of balance between light and dark, between good and bad, between right and wrong, that is somehow suggested in shadow.

As light gets brighter, shadows will invariably form, and I like the idea of shining brightly as a response to the dark, but that doesn't mean that shadow and darkness has no value or purpose.

Everything in creation has a purpose. 

It is true that shadow is often used to hide things, and it is easy to obfuscate a concept or item when it cannot be clearly seen or directly defined.

However it is contrast of darkness that provides our appreciation of light. 

The stars are only visible in darkness, and while they are always present in the sky, it is only in the shadow of night that we perceive their beauty.

Nonetheless, when something arises in my realm, and I get the sense that I am acting from a place of subconscious or unconscious belief, I become a shadow hunter.

I think about it this way:

I'm a reasonable and rational person.

I act in a way that serves my best interest.

When I don't appear to act in a way that serves my best interest, then there has to be a deeper reason.

I'm looking for the reason why I act in a certain way.

If I happen to behave in a manner that does not appear to be in my best interest, then there has to be something, like an underlying belief, that is influencing my actions.

Specifically , there must be an underlying belief that makes me think acting in my best interest would actually cause me pain and suffering.

So it's my job to find out.

When I do discover it, I just need to bring it into the light of awareness.

The light dissolves the darkness, and shadows can't survive when the object is fully bathed in light. 

I don't need to do anything else with that (formerly) unconscious belief. 

Return to acting in my best interest.

Until the next shadow hunt begins...

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