Holiday Sanity: 3 Simple Practices to Stay Grounded Through the Season (PART 3)
Part 3 — The Shadow of the Season: A Jungian Journaling Practice
This is Part 3 of Holiday Sanity: 3 Simple Practices to Stay Grounded Through the Season. If you missed the earlier posts, you can start with Part 1: Be Here Now and Part 2: Breathing in Public.
We’ve talked about presence and breath — two ways to calm the body. This last one turns inward. It’s about what happens beneath the surface — the part of us that gets stirred up by family, expectations, and comparison.
The holidays can shine a bright light on our shadows — the parts we’d rather not see. The people-pleaser who can’t say no. The perfectionist trying to make it all “special.” The part that feels like a kid again around family, even when we swore we’d grown out of it.
The Practice: Shadow Work Journaling
Grab a pen and paper (yes, paper). Take a breath and write freely in response to one or two of these prompts. No censoring, no editing — just curiosity.
Prompts:
What part of me gets most activated during the holidays?
Who am I trying to be — and who am I afraid to be?
When I feel resentful, what unspoken need might be underneath
What would it look like to meet that need myself, even in a small way?
When you’re done, pause. Notice what you feel. You don’t have to fix or judge it. Just acknowledge it — that’s the integration part.
This is Jungian work in a nutshell: making the unconscious conscious. And once you see something clearly, you don’t have to keep acting it out unconsciously.
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The season tends to mirror back the pieces of ourselves we’re still learning to love. By meeting those parts with curiosity instead of criticism, you can move through the holidays with more authenticity and less pressure.
If this resonates and you’d like support exploring your own patterns or integrating deeper awareness into your daily life, I offer a free consultation. It’s a chance to connect, reflect, and see what might serve you best right now. 👉 Schedule a free consult call here
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