ChChCh Changes!

I wish I had edited this!

Divorce Shadow

The shortcut to understanding Jung's concept of shadow is anything I hide, repress or deny. I saved this New Yorker cartoon without thinking. As with most things that I do without thinking... THERE'S A REASON FOR IT! The reason is that I've been keeping my sadness around my divorce safely tucked away so it would be invisible to myself and the world. Did I already mention, hide, repress and deny?

I hid my sadness to stay safe and to appear strong to myself and others. It served me well by keeping me employed and alive. There is little room in society or business for someone who is perpetually unable to function because of sadness. The problem with many coping mechanisms is that they can turn from useful tool to debilitating shadow when their usefulness expires.

That's what happed with my divorce sadness. After I no longer needed to 'tuck away (repress) my sadness' to function, I continued to hide it. Now it likes to surprise me from time to time. It seems to enjoy hiding behind trees and walloping me upside the head as I stroll by. Then it giggles and runs away while I reach for my big assed bottle of ibuprofen.

How do I deal with a shadow? My first step is to name it: "I know you, you're my Divorce Grief." Naming a shadow takes away some of it's power. The next step is harder. To keep a shadow from walloping me, I must drag it forcibly into the light of day, the light of my awareness. If I'm aware of something, I can make conscious decisions around it. The best way that I know to keep a shadow in the spotlight is to talk about it. If it's not a SECRET to others, it's not a SECRET to me!

Happy shadow hunting!

Tuesday Blog Meat

The Daily Saint has a cool post on how to easily live a more spiritual life.

I've been meaning to read this post on Freelance Switch about Freelance Accounting for quite awhile. Now that I have, I'm happy to report that I already do most of these.

Freelance Freedom

These cartoons do a great job of illustrating why I switched from 'freelancing because I was laid off' to being a 'freelancer by choice.' I'd take a good full time position if it was offered, but I'd miss the thrill of the hunt.

The comic is from here, this guy does come cool artwork!

Drive By Shootings

I often carry a camera in my bag. It's a laptop bag, but lets be real, it's my purse. I keep all the crap in there that I need during the day.

Back to the camera. I've taken a lot of pictures that I call 'Drive By Shootings.' As an American, I see a lot of the world from the inside of my car and I try to show that through the pictures. I made this picture on the way to my daughter's school for a meeting. The sky was clear but it was snowing! I grabbed the camera to try to capture the snow and the light turned green. I quickly snapped the photo without composing the shot. I should take more pictures with my eyes closed!