A Halloween Self Help Course

Halloween? A self help course? I hear you ask...

Well, Halloween is one of those holidays that has been celebrated for so long that few people can actually remember why we celebrate it at all. Historians are, however, as if often the case, the repositories of this information and they tell us that Halloween is a celebration that goes all the way back to Roman times. It was generally a mark of the changing of the time of year from a period of light to a period of darkness. Hence all the aspects relating to ghouls and spirits that we tend to associate with “the dark side” on display during that night.

As a psychiatrist, the interesting thing for me is that it is not the external environment alone that has a light and a dark side. Each of us does too. In many ways we are all microcosms of the wider Universe in which we live and, as a result, our own make up reflects what exists on the outside. There is a part of all of us that is selfish, demanding, insecure, volatile and always in search of stimulation and short term gratification in its various guises. This is the destructive part of us that is the mirror image of our creative side. For counter balancing our “shadow” are our rays of light, of love, confidence, self belief, patience and the belief in others. The truth is that one side is required for the other to exist. Just as light could not exist without darkness, so our own light side could not exist without a dark side too.

The danger for us as conscious beings is not in having a dark side; the only way to remove our dark side is to remove ourselves from existence – and I am certainly not advocating that. The real danger exists in denying that we have a dark side. By suppressing or ignoring it, we end up giving it energy and empowering it to drive us in ways we remain unconscious of. That is why people who often start out with just or pious intent end up becoming enveloped by darkness because they thought they could banish all sin from their lives for good through some “true path” of pure virtue. Religious sects, churches and ministries throughout time have fallen prey to such thinking. Most actually believed they had found a salvation through denial. Until it was too late.

The healthiest systems and self help courses acknowledge and, yes, even respect our dark side. This does not mean giving in to it or giving it free reign, for at the same time it must always be balanced with an appreciation of our opposite, positive affirming energy. What it does mean, is remaining aware of both - staying in the tension of life. That is why finding harmless ways in which to open ourselves up to the shadow within can be a very positive thing to do.

So on Halloween this year, do enjoy all the ghostly and ghastly festivities and, through it all, try to remember that it is really yourself you are celebrating. You are both the trick and the treat, and you are all the more beautiful because of it.

Article first published as Self Help for Halloween on Technorati.