Shadows Are Part of Our Lives
June Six Word Photo Story Challenge: “Black & White — Freestyle
So we need to see them.
Considering my life as three twenty-five-year segments, this house represents Act Three.
My son Ben and I moved in a quarter century ago. He would also continue to live with his mother, two blocks away, in a house we used to share.
Wanda and I tried but could not make our relationship work.
We worked hard to smooth the rough road ahead for our ten-year-old son, including living close enough so that Ben could go back and forth.
Sitting on the front porch that first summer, I occasionally saw him coming down the sidewalk across the street on his bike, waiting at the intersection to cross the road as he came from his mom’s.
I wondered, “What had we done?”
And I thought about how my shadows — blind spots and inflexibilities — had helped bring us all to this sad place.
We are all defective.
Our flaws lead to failures.
That hurt others.
One of life’s tasks is to bring these shadows into the open so we can see them in the light of how they harm others.
How is your shadow work going?
I’m making some progress.
But I’m going to need Act Four!
Thanks to Mary Chang Story Writer for this June prompt.
Sharing Randomly has a fascinating story that is relevant to us all.
