🌱 Here’s my shadow work (w/ photos)

Carl Jung. Harvard Psychologist. Cornrows.

Author

Mitchell Cohen
July 13, 2025

Here’s your 3 insights in 3 minutes.

🧠 Shadow Work

What if your biggest flaws were just misdirected strengths? 

Carl Jung called it the shadow — the unconscious parts of you that don’t get to speak.

  • The control you cling to 

  • The envy you pretend not to feel 

  • The fear you overcompensate for

Traditional therapy often says: “Let’s get rid of that.”

Shadow work says: “Let’s understand what it’s serving.”

I recently saw this 🔥 thread from Harvard-trained psychologist Lorwen Nagle framing it as fixing vs redirecting:

🔍 My Shadow Work

I’ve done shadow work in the past, but was curious to check in again. 

(After thinking first for myself) I asked ChatGPT what my shadow might be:  

Prompt: Given everything you know about me, what do you think my shadow/shadow work includes?

Through the lens of pattern/shadow/work for each. 

Key point here is that it’s NOT about fixing. More about befriending. 

I value clarity, strategy, intentionality. 

My shadow? Messiness. Chaos. Surrender. So the “Work” is:

“Welcoming the parts of life (and yourself) that can’t be systematized. Letting in more surrender, spontaneity, even irrationality.”

I’ve been aware of this, so quickly took it in and forgot about it. 

But then this happened…

đź’‡ Unexpected Barber Wisdom 

My go-to barber vanished, so I tried someone new at a brand new location this week. 

After the cut she asked if I ever braided my hair. 

Me: “Ha no… my gf brings that up, but nah I’m okay.”
Barber: “It’d look great, I can do it real quick?”

Reluctant and slightly pressed for time… I said, “sure, why not!”

Spoiler: I have 🌽rows! (lol photos below)

But the insight happened a few minutes ago while looking at my shadow work. Realizing a younger version of me would’ve never braided his hair (seemingly messy or chaotic). 

And here’s the thing: I didn't do it to check off a “spontaneity” box. 

It just happened. 

Only later did I connect the dots. Letting in chaos I usually would push away. 

Not as a productivity hack.
Not as a way to “balance” myself.
More as a way of being (instead of defaulting to doing). 

Finished writing this on a flight with the gf

On SW flight trying to look weird so no one sits next to us

What is your shadow telling you? 

Salud,
Mitchell 

Ps. Blown away by all your replies to last week’s email on potential name change. Thank you all. Going to keep the name for now.