Chiaroscuro is an art technique using light and shadow to create dimension and volume. “Chiaro” means clear or bright. “Scuro” means dark or obscure. On any given day, within any given life, in any given moment there exists the push/pull of our clearest and brightest instincts versus the dark and obscure. Swimming inside of us is an interplay of our highest and lowest selves. One moment can be oh so good and the next can feel so very bad. For me it is my four year old self when she doesn’t get her way versus the lovely, wise eighty five year old I hope to be. Carl Jung described the shadow in our human personality as a hidden part of the unconscious. Robert Louis Stevenson created Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde to explore his fascination with the human psyche’s capacity for good and evil. Singer, songwriter Meredith Brooks sang that she is a bitch and a lover, a child and a mother, a sinner and a saint. Do these extremes reflect madness or is it simply part of our human condition?
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Ways to Befriend your Shadow:
No More Pretending: Commit to be 100% real with yourself. Talk honestly when no one is listening. Journal how you really feel. Share authentically with a safe person.
Letter From Love: Write a letter to yourself as if you are your best friend who loves and adores you. “Dear _______, I see you struggling with ____. You did not ask for ____. I see you. I love you.”
Practice Self Compassion: 1) be kind to you when things go wrong; 2) realize all suffer and you are not alone; 3) be mindful of all reality so as not to dismiss or over-identify with your pain.
The Art Way: Come awaken your unconscious with a charcoal Art Class October 11, 10 am – 1 pm. I look forward to sharing the messiness of charcoal and life plus the light and dark with you!!
