What trait in other people triggers a reaction in you that feels larger than the situation? What might that reaction protect?
18 Shadow Work Prompts Prompts
These prompts create a starting constraint, question, or situation. Use one as written, combine two, or change the audience, setting, objective, or limitation to make a new exercise.
Which version of yourself do you work hardest to prove you are not?
When do you become defensive before anyone has actually criticized you?
What kind of praise is hardest for you to accept, and what assumption makes it uncomfortable?
Describe a recent moment of envy without judging it. What did the envy reveal that you wanted?
What behavior do you excuse in yourself but resent in other people?
Which emotion do you most quickly turn into another emotion—sadness into anger, fear into humor, uncertainty into control?
What boundary do you wish someone else would set so you would not have to set it yourself?
What mistake from your past do you keep using as evidence about who you are now?
When have you confused being useful with being worthy?
What kind of person are you tempted to dismiss quickly? What story do you tell yourself about them?
Which need do you usually express indirectly rather than asking for plainly?
What would become harder if you stopped trying to be seen as competent all the time?
Describe a conflict where your preferred story makes you entirely right. What facts complicate that story?
What are you afraid would happen if you disappointed someone whose approval matters to you?
Which habit gives you short-term relief while creating a longer-term problem?
What part of your identity feels threatened when someone close to you changes?
What would self-respect look like in one situation where self-criticism currently feels more familiar?