The Name…
Welcome to the Bright Shadow website and blog!
Have you ever noticed how some of the most profound truths in life come in pairs - seemingly contradictory, yet mutually dependent and undeniably real?
The perfect cup of coffee is calming and comforting while it ignites the creative fire inside. Or how entrepreneurship allows for “a flexible schedule,” but means that it is very difficult to ever truly put work down. At Bright Shadow, we lean into these paradoxes that exist in life, and our name is meant to be a reflection of this practice.
Philosopher and mental health pioneer, Carl Jung once said that "the brightest lights have the darkest shadows.”
This wasn't just a catchy phrase; it was a profound truth that spoke to a bedrock of human experience. As a whitewater kayaker, I’ve grappled with the intense duality of the river – a force that is so incredibly life-giving and transformative, yet also capable of immense destruction and loss. The river has been my greatest teacher, and I’ve learned that it can give with one hand while taking with the other. This personal journey, marked by both profound beauty and mind-numbing loss, laid the groundwork for what would become this organization.
The name "Bright Shadow" attempts to encapsulate this integration. It acknowledges that true brilliance often emerges from navigating and embracing our deepest challenges, our "shadows." It's in those moments of wrestling with grief, loss, and trauma – the very real, often unspoken experiences we carry – that we discover strength we didn’t know we had, and a new capacity for joy.
Once you start paying attention to this, you’ll see it everywhere…
The fundamental parenting dilemma: that intense desire to protect our children from every scrape, balanced with the crucial need to let them stumble and learn from their own mistakes. It feels like an impossible balance; a paradox of protective love and agonizing release.
We learn who our friends truly are not during the highlight reel, but during the toughest times in our lives.
We beat our heads against the wall on a work or creative assignment, and as soon as we release the cerebral grasp and go for a walk or run in the woods, the solution crystalizes.
Or the fact that a great workout hurts like crazy in the moment, but afterward you feel like you can conquer the world.
Bright Shadow is about creating a space where we don't shy away from that implicit tension. By engaging with our valleys in life, we can unlock a vibrant, more authentic self. It’s a journey from isolation to connection, from pain to purpose, and from the depths and heights of personal experience to a shared understanding that reveals the path forward.
Our mission is to "guide people back into connection with themselves, each other, and the natural world." We understand that grief isn't something to get over… it's something that we integrate in our bodies and hearts. By leaning into both the light and the shadow of our experiences, we can show up in the world as our best self.
Bright Shadow is meant to be more than a name. It's an invitation to embrace the full spectrum of your human experience, to find strength in vulnerability, and to discover the radiant light that often emerges from the deepest shadows.
Welcome to the journey.
