Journaling | Intuition Development | Emotional Wellness
Tune In To Your Inner Voice
Access the healing powers of your inner guidance through journaling exercises, daily journal prompts, tools for building intuition, shadow work, dream journaling, and resources for emotional wellness & emotional healing.
Reading Lists for Emotional Wellness: Essential Books About Shadow Work
Learning more about the human shadow and how to do shadow work can be a game-changer for personal growth and development, I know it was for me, so I’ve put together this list of books about shadow work to help you learn more. You can also check out my article, What Is Shadow Work?: How Your Shadow Self Can Free You To Live Authentically and the other shadow work resources on this site.
If the concept of shadow work is completely new to you, here’s a quick introduction. Psychologist Carl Jung described the shadow as unconscious aspects of personality. These shadow parts of our personalities are not necessarily good or bad, they are simply parts of who we are that we aren’t aware of. The shadow self is composed of aspects of our personalities that it feels too scary to see. Our shadows are made up of parts of ourselves that we don’t think should be there. Our shadow self could contain desires we don’t think we should have, emotions we don’t think we should have, and needs we don’t think we should have. The idea that these aspects of our personalities are undesirable might come from childhood, our culture, or significant experiences or relationships. Shadow work is the process of learning about what your shadow contains and accepting these aspects of yourself as part of the whole that is you. In other words, shadow work is the process of bringing personality traits, desires, needs, thoughts, and emotions that were once hidden in the dark into the light.
Alright, now that you know a little bit about shadow work, let’s talk about a few books about shadow work that can help you learn more.
Reading Lists for Emotional Wellness: Books for Healing Childhood Trauma
I put together this list of books about healing childhood trauma based on my own experiences with healing from my childhood. The books on this reading list cover the science of trauma, how it impacts the brain, body, nervous system, and our relationship with ourselves and others. These books also provide various roadmaps and supports for healing childhood trauma. The insights in these books have formed important stepping stones on my own healing journey, and I hope that you find them helpful as well.
#1 Book for Healing Childhood Trauma - Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory by Deb Dana, LCSW
If there’s one thing I’ve learned on my own childhood trauma healing journey, it’s that healing really is about the nervous system. This understanding has given me patience with the healing process and with myself because I understand that I can’t just force myself to think the “right” thoughts; I have to give my nervous system time and care to heal like I would give time and care to a broken bone.
Anchored is a practical guide to understanding how your nervous system works, how you can learn to tune in to what your nervous system is doing, and how you can work with your nervous system to regulate your emotions.