shadows

     Aren't shadows wierd things?   Actually, could you even call them "things?"   Now you see them, now you don't.  They shrink or grow,  hide or loom, all depending on the light.  The higher the sun, the smaller the shadow.  Sometimes shadows are before us, sometimes behind, or to the side.  Without shadows, landscapes are a lot less interesting and beautiful.   Would we be too, without our shadows?  Robert Louis Stevenson has a poem about shadows that begins: "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, and what can be the use of it is more than I can see."

     Some psychologists do "shadow work" with people, which means they help them see their "shadow side"--which is the aspects of themselves they are unaware of or in denial of.  One way to realize our shadows is to notice what aspects of other people evoke very strong positive or emotional reactions in us.   Those aspects are our shadows.   I doubt that any of us get rid of our shadows ever.  Maybe just realizing they are there, and taking the time to notice and maybe even appreciate them  (yes, even what seems negative to us)  is a good thing.   

       The shadow pictures on this blog are, to me, fascinating and even beautiful.   In this life of light and shadow, I am grateful for the patterns they create, and their invitation to stop and take a closer look at the dance of light and shadow throughout our lives and landscapes.