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The world could not function with a world of individuals because people all over the world depend on each other,
We need to learn how to love each other first before we become a better society

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"Our Fatal shadows that walk by us still"

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"Our Fatal shadows that walk by us still"

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"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the SHADOW of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires"

OUR SHADOW SELF is the part of ourselves that lives in our darkness or subconscious mind. Our conscious mind has a light switch that turns on the moment we open our eyes. Our subconscious mind is something we can only explore with candlelight, patience, courage and time. Our SHADOW SELF or our subconscious thoughts that spend most of their time residing in the dark, nonetheless, OUR SHADOW SELF is an important part of who we are.

Some of us need help and support in trekking the internal terrain where our SHADOW SELF lives. We require a reliable candleholder to accompany us as we explore our subconscious dark and dangerously beautiful secrets and treasures. Especially if we are likely to get startled by any discoveries about our darker selves that we find confronting. The deeper we go, the more secrets and treasure we will find. A bit like deep-sea diving. The deeper the descent, the less casual you can be with the support tank you take with you. People die going deep in the ocean if alone and unsupported with the proper safety equipment. The same goes for some of us as we trek to discover and make peace with our darkness, our SHADOW selves.

Nelson Mandela's quote above beautifully warns and reminds us that ... "There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the SHADOW of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires"

What does he mean? I know only too well having survived some deep, dangerous, dark places within my own SHADOW self what he is referring to.

I translate Nelson's words to mean the surrender of our ego. Some of us have had to self-abandon and dishonor who we really are at a heart level, then survive and hide behind the fragile amour of our ego. I did this for the first 33 years of my life, and thank God for my ego allowing me to seek shelter behind it. It kept me alive during those times where I did not have support to heal my heart's wounds.

However, surrendering my ego at times still feels very real, emotionally life threatening and extremely confronting. Mainly because who I really am as a fearless and at times fragile female at an internal heart level was contradictory and almost completely opposite to whom I had become at an external ego level aged 33. My ego can be actually fearful and impenetrable. My heart fearlessly yearning to open up and surrender to an authentic gesture of love.

It has taken me many years to negotiate with my ego and to simultaneously learn to befriend my SHADOW heart SELF. The parts of me I kept in the dark, hidden from public view. Outing ourselves can create conflict if those around us are invested more in our ego selves than wanting to know our authentic SHADOW SELVES.

It is only when we are loved for all of who we are that we ever can feel safe in our relationships.

I recall asking my therapist, who was my professional candleholder as we trekked into the deep dark caves in my heart I had long left.

"How long is this going to take?"

"It is a lifetime ritual", he responded. We are never done with facing our fears and our SHADOW SELF.

It became necessary for my sobriety and sanity to explore these dark, lonely and scary caves I hid in as a child amid the horror of sexual abuse and domestic violence. I had put big rocks in front of those caves once my ego was robust enough to hide behind, trying to pretend they never existed. Unfortunately, like many others do, I had also left some heartfelt childhood treasures hidden safely in those caves that I needed to retrieve. Treasures like trust, safety, innocence and my sacred femininity.

To safely go deep, emotionally deep, into our subconscious some of us need an emotional travelling guide. A professional that knows how to go deep, stay safe, get in and get both of us out safely all within a 60-minute session. Sometimes it could not be done. I had to be hospitalised on some of our deeper treks as emotional exhaustion and overwhelm could render me immobilised. I required a few days to recover my emotional strength fully.

I thoroughly recommend if you have past trauma or areas of your heart currently in "lock down" that you also take a companion with you as you retrieve the treasures hidden in the dark guarded by our SHADOW SELVES. It took me two hands to remove the psychological rocks I had placed years ago to block access to my truth. So my therapist stood at my side with two candles, mine and his, to better help me find enlightenment and discover my childhood treasures like hidden Easter Eggs.

Carl Jung also reminds us of the importance to become willing to embrace our SHADOW SELF that our ego too often advises us against. Jung advises that the first half of our lives needs to be devoted to creating a healthy ego. The second half of life he teaches is all about going inward and dismantling, surrendering and educating the ego. We do need an external shell, like a tortoise does, to protect us from the rough and tumble of this external world, especially when we are young and naïve. Our ego is like putting floating devices on children learning to swim, it offers some extra support until we gain full muscle memory and learn how to swim for ourselves.

Our ego, Jung explains, is designed in the first half of our lives to support us until we gain emotional muscle memory. Emotional Fitness one might even say. Once we hit around midlife our ego then needs to work with not against our hearts deepest desires. We can do this willingly or reluctantly, it is our choice. Those who are Emotionally Unfit do it reluctantly.

What is that saying?

"Midlife is either a crises or a celebration"

We will face an inevitable ego crisis during our adult life, if we have not built any emotional muscle. Many go on an ego binge taking younger lovers chasing lost youth at midlife, and some of us grow up and do the work.

This message offers you an opportunity to review how you feel about the words OUR SHADOW SELF with one last snippet of Jungian wisdom ...

"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious"

Lotsa love Cynthia xxx
© Copyright 2016 Cynthia J. Morton Emotional Fitness™

This Word Vitamin is an excerpt from my latest bookset "The Four Seasons of the Heart". If you would like to order your own full set of Daily Word Vitamins one for each day of the year, in book form for yourself or as a gift just click on the SHOP tab and place your order.

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"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the SHADOW of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires" OUR SHADOW SELF is the part of ourselves that lives in our darkness or subconscious mind.

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At his time the people of America where not really feeling the music that his group was making. At first people doubted him and NWA and told them they will not go far but today DR. Dre is the first hip hop artist to be a billionaire, he also paved the way for many young artist today

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"And I, run the game even when they bend the rules
I pay very close attention after that I pay my dues"

"Seek no one besides yourself"

They both talk about worrying about them self's and trust in yourself.

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Vegeta dose not rely on anyone and he trust himself to defeat his foes and uses his own strengths and power
"Nothing To him falls early or too late"

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The true warrior from the Dragonball Z Series.

And yes I am a fan of TeamFourStar, I highly recommend you checkout their abridged series.

Just like Goku, if you were anything like me as a teenager then it wouldn't be a surprise that Vegeta was a massive inspiration for you as well.
An elite Saiyan with destiny written in his blood.
He traveled the universe conquering all knowing one day he could be the best.

Until he met Goku.

Goku gave Vegeta a reason to become as strong as he did, eventually becoming stronger to take on Lord Bills in Battle of Gods, but more on that later.

Here are the 5 reasons why you need to start living your life just like Vegeta.

1. Vegeta always believed he would become the best.
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure" - Marianne Williamson
From the time we met Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga, we knew he was going to be an important figure in the Dragonball Z world.

He was cunning, calculated and downright a badass.

But he always believed he was the best.

Too many of us in life play ourselves too small in life. We don't give ourselves enough credit for the work that we do, the talents that we have and the gift we can offer to the world. Instead we succumb to fear, we allow doubts to control our life and allow non-meaningful stress to take over.

So why not take a page out of Vegeta's book and strive for a bit of positive arrogance.

The good type.

The type that allows us to SMASH through any doubts and fears that we have.

The rest of the world can tell you that you will fail, but if you were to live a little like Vegeta you would soon see that believing you are the best will take you all the way. Keep aiming to become the best in life, forget what others say, especially if it doesn't serve your dream.
You are the best.
2. Vegeta took on the biggest challenges despite his own fear.
"Got it? you big bloated balloon freak!" ~ Vegeta
In the Buu Saga, Vegeta sacrificed himself in order to defeat the demon.

He knew deep down at the time he was the only one besides Goku that had a chance to defeat Majin Buu.

Despite his fear, he took the demon head on.

Go ahead and watch this episode, if there's anything you can learn about self sacrifice it's this one here.

This particular episode had a tremendous impact on my life.

I saw that even the most darkest people in life can have a good heart within.

So in our own lives, how often do we avoid the biggest challenges?

That Powerlifting competition.

That university assignment.

That pretty girl across from you on the train.

That promotion you want to ask for.

The magic in life happens when we face our deepest challenge and the way to overcome that is through sheer bravery. Bravery, courage and willing to stand up for your dreams, your goals, your ambitions, your life, this is your chance to make a difference.

Do you want to be on your death bed wishing you took a chance?

Or could you be like Vegeta and take it all head on, like a true Saiyan warrior.

3. Vegeta had pride in himself as a Saiyan.

Did you swallow your pride today at work?

Did you let someone tell you you're not good enough?

I could only imagine how Vegeta would respond to such haterish behavior.

I'd imagine that Vegeta would uppercut the s**t out of anyone that tried to tell him otherwise. I mean...could you imagine anyone telling Vegeta he would not become a Super Saiyan?

Hater: You will never defeat Goku

Vegeta: Die.

That's the attitude you need in life.

No i'm not saying you should commit to violence, what I'm saying is that you need to have pride in your own dreams. Your dreams belong to you and if you don't protect it then the world can only penetrate your fortitude. The world will constantly try to tear you down, rip your soul out of your chest, bend your spirit until there's nothing left to steal.

But once again, could you imagine Vegeta letting a hater stop him?

4. Vegeta never underestimated the importance of training.

"I have been doing nothing but severe training the entire time" ~ Vegeta
During the time gap between the Cell Saga and Buu Saga, Vegeta kept training. In life you must never underestimate the importance of training. Training isn't just limited to the body, it is the training of many factors of your life. Any area that is your craft, talent, skill or gift requires repeated effort and training.

In other words, to live like Vegeta you must always be prepared.

Too many of us just wonder around waiting for an opportunity to happen.

Even the legendary empowerment speaker Eric Thomas said it himself.

We need to take action right away and like Vegeta, he never waited, he just went for it.

5. Vegeta used his mind to save the world.

In the final battle against the demon Majin Buu we often credit Goku for defeating him with the spirit bomb?

But who came up with the idea to use the spirit bomb?

It was Vegeta.

Vegeta's ultimate weapon was that he was a master strategist, even Piccolo acknowledged that Vegeta was brilliant.

Sometimes in life we need to think like Vegeta. We don't always have to be the strongest but we certainly need to be able to use our minds to it's full capacity. In life we will be constantly met with challenges, challenges that force us to think outside of the box. These challenges push us to the limit and when no options are available we are left with only one option: to become creative.

Vegeta was ultimately a hero just like Goku. He wasn't the strongest but without Vegeta the world was destined to end. Majin Buu would have destroyed the Earth and the universe would have been at the will of the demon. Not everyone is lucky enough to be a Goku in life, but others can certainly be a Vegeta which is equally awesome.

Vegeta certainly influenced my life.

I always try to use my mind to the best of my ability. I always train even when a competition isn't around the corner and even though I may not be the best, I will always strive to become the best that I can be on this Earth. I want TeamStayMotivated to give us all that fighting chance, and perhaps Vegeta may be the hero you have been seeking.

I can name at least 5 people in my life that remind me of Vegeta.

Perhaps you have a friend that reminds of you Vegeta.
So there you have it, these are 5 reasons why you need to start living like Vegeta.

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5 Reasons why you need to live like Vegeta

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The true warrior from the Dragonball Z Series. And yes I am a fan of TeamFourStar, I highly recommend you checkout their abridged series. Just like Goku, if you were anything like me as a teenager then it wouldn't be a surprise that Vegeta was a massive inspiration for you as well.