There is much emphasis these days on seeking enlightenment. Yet in our desire to live more consciously, we can easily overlook what is quietly standing in the way. It’s difficult to become ‘lighter’ without first recognising what we are carrying — and find a way to lessen the load.
Without wishing to put a damper on our good intentions to raise our vibration, this is where the real work begins. And there is gold here too. What if the very thing you are trying to transcend holds the key to your next breakthrough?
The greatest obstacles to our growth often assemble under the term shadow. I find it more helpful to think of shadow as our blind spots — the patterns and perceptions so familiar to us that we no longer see them clearly. When we become fixated on our way of experiencing reality, believing it to be the only way, we miss how it may also be limiting us – and what other possibilities exist.
We have no choice.
Befriending our shadow, honouring intuition
Our shadow most often reveals itself through our emotions and reactions to everyday life: anger, frustration, procrastination, self-criticism, avoidance … to name a few.
These are the signs to look out for – but simply naming them is not enough. To work meaningfully with the shadow, we must trace these reactions back to source and contemplate deeply what is behind them, what is truly driving us. And of course, what is true for one person will never be identical for another.
The Intuitive Vision Board as a gateway to shadow
The journey through the Intuitive Vision Board can lead directly into shadow territory – without us realizing it. By working with intuition and inner knowing, in a non-thinking way, we bypass the rational mind, which has a habit of overriding what we most need to see, hear and embrace for our highest good. What appears on the intuitive board however arrives as an image, symbol, and felt sense rather than logic.
This is why the Intuitive Vision Board can sometimes be in direct conflict with the more traditional, intentional “dream board,” where we consciously visualise what we desire and then pursue it vehemently.
The intuitive board doesn’t necessarily show us what we want – it shows us what is most alive, unresolved, emerging, or asking for integration.
Shadow revealed through our homes
Our blind spots – our shadow – are also evident in the way we live and in the relationship we have with our homes. As an environmental therapist, it is my job to see where this occurs. In rebalancing or “correcting” perceived weaknesses in the home, you are taken straight to the sweet spot: the place where light needs to be thrown on what has been ignored, avoided, or undervalued. Once illuminated, you are free to create a shift, and restore balance in practical ways ,with feng shui-informed adjustments.
Woman in pink and the mystery at the centre
At the centre of my current Intuitive Vision Board sits a woman in a pink trouser suit. While I have recognized and integrated almost every image on the board since creating it in August 2025 – and have shared these insights with you – this one remains unmanifest.
The energy she emits lifts me – she reminds me to look for the joy in every situation. If I could find a pink outfit like this, I’d wear it. For now, I content myself with a similar ensemble in green.
Beside her sit two beautiful woven baskets, which I associate with my feminine nature and an invitation for me to be receptive rather than driving.
Beneath the basket is an image of three women. This one intrigues me and make me think of The Bloomsbury Set. They were an influential group of artists and creatives who challenged Victorian norms with modernism, liberalism and open debate. I have suspected this image prompts me towards collaboration with other women who have a contemporary Bloomsbury mindset. Yet the who, how, where and why had remained elusive – and until now I have not understood what was getting in the way of it.
A timely invitation into shadow
My colleague and friend, Lana Morris, has just launched an online programme called Shadow Work Made Simple, which she describes as a fast-action guide to finding peace, power, and purpose without getting lost in the darkness of the shadow.
She invited me to review her five-step shadow enquiry, which I found simple, comprehensive and transformational. In so doing I experienced a surprising illumination – one that spoke directly to those three images on my board.
The shadow of invisibility
I have long known that within my own shadow lives a fear of invisibility. Through my Master’s studies which included Depth Psychology and the work of Carl Jung, I understood the concept of shadow imagery well and knew it would very likely surface on the Intuitive Vision Board – not just on mine but on everybody’s.
I had already explored my particular shadow – how it originated, how it formed, and the behaviours I had unconsciously adopted to compensate for the fear associated with it.
I also recognized how I had trained myself to avoid situations in which this shadow might be triggered again – whether this avoidance was for my advantage or my detriment. Without this awareness, I most likely would find myself recreating circumstances similar to those in which the original shadow arose in order to finally meet these consciously – and with choice.
Every shadow conceals a gift.
Flipping the energy of the shadow
Shadow work is not about shaming ourselves or eliminating parts of who we are that we don’t like. Nor is it about “fixing” our faults. It’s about flipping the energy bound within the shadow and using it in a more creative, innovative, and life-giving way. Its gift is to live with greater empowerment and inner peace.
As I answered Lana’s five questions, I gained an additional and valuable insight into my own shadow of invisibility. It immediately dawned on me it is also my greatest strength.
Seeing the invisible as my superpower
My superpower has always been the ability to see beyond what is being said or presented and go straight to the heart of a situation – the invisible made visible.
As an anthropologist, I was trained to observe human behaviour rather than rely on words alone. As a marketing consultant, I could consistently identify the real challenge behind a client’s stated problem and identify where energy was being misdirected or unrealised. Today, whether I’m facilitating the Intuitive Vision Board or working in environmental therapy, this ability remains central to my approach: helping people move from confusion, stagnation and atrophy to clarity, freedom, and creative flow.
The missing piece: collaboration
When I questioned my shadow, “What do you need from me now?” the answer came through clearly: “you are being invited to collaborate”.
I take this to mean working in tandem with others – particularly women or in the honouring of the feminine principle. The irony is that this is something I’ve already proved I can – and like – to do but had cast into shadow because of a previous experience of collaboration, which had upended me by the roots and triggered my original fear of invisibility.
Here am I reminding myself: “For heaven’s sake, Mary, you once created and led a team of 24 marketing professionals (men and women) in a successful agency with Fortune 500 clients.” I am as capable of being a team player as much as I am a solopreneur.
My growth edge lies in consciously engaging in collaborative creation, which my shadow had assiduously been avoiding, for fear of repeating the consequences of the past.
And this realisation came simply, swiftly, and cleanly through Lana’s five-step enquiry.
An invitation for you
If you feel called, you might like to explore Lana’s Shadow Guide yourself via the link here.
I also encourage you to revisit your own Intuitive Vision Board (if you have one) with fresh eyes – pay attention particularly to the centre. Almost without exception, the central image – or constellation of images – holds the key to some particular magic, perhaps some shadow aspect that is currently active in you, presenting itself for your engagement and integration now.
I once had a client who took 8 months to accept the image of a mother polar bear with two cubs at the centre of her Intuitive Vision Board. It triggered in her the remembrance that she and her husband had once wanted to adopt, until life got the better of them and they’d pushed it to one side. Seeing it so clearly and evidently now, this career woman faced her current reality.
When the shadow is met with awareness, it delivers its gift. This couple now have two adopted children – and a spaniel to boot.
The gift of shadow is it can point us toward the very next chapter of life we didn’t even know we were ready for.