We all have dark shadows

We all have dark shadows. Sometimes they have little influence. Other times they have much influence. Regardless, they are just shadows. They are not who we really are. Learning to separate self-criticism, guilt, and the other negative emotions from who we really are is very healthy. Imagine these negative emotions to be a cloud way over there in a blue sky floating across the sky and finally disappearing. Or see them like images in a dream. When we wake up and see them as false, and in fact non-existent. In this way we become more whole and happier human beings.