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"Your Shadow is your Strength"
NEW! "Your shadow is your strength" - Embracing Your Whole Self in Every Role in Life.
A new revised edition, including many examples and exercises, is now on sale.
This book explores the powerful and often overlooked concept of the shadow - the hidden sides of ourselves that contain both what we fear and what we can use as strengths. Through insights from Jungian psychology, it guides the reader in discovering, understanding, and integrating these aspects of their inner life.
Rather than focusing on self-improvement in the traditional sense, the book provides tools for approaching and embracing the parts of ourselves that we often ignore or deny. It shows how the shadow, which holds our fears, shame and repressed sides, can also be a source of power, creativity and personal development.
Combining theory and practical exercises, this is a book for anyone who wants to begin a deeper journey towards greater self-knowledge and a more authentic self-image.
(Foreword by Laurence Barrett, author of A Jungian Approach to Coaching)

"Your shadow is your strength" (IN SWEDISH, NEW REVISED EDITION)

"YOUR SHADOW IS YOUR STRENGTH" (in ENGLISH, new revised edition)
Take some time to get to know this delightful book. It is the fruit of years of experience and academic study, but it won't make you yawn and want to put it aside after a few minutes. Instead, it will draw you into a pleasant adventure where a treasure awaits at the end: your true self.
- Elizabeth Florent Treacy, Senior Lecturer at INSEAD Business School
"So interesting, and so very well presented and written! Really well done, sitting at the best and thinking about who I am."
- Torun Nilsson, Freelance journalist, e.g. in Dagens Industri.
We have to learn to live with the shadow, and hopefully find glimmers of light in its darkness, giving us new energy and new ideas. This is not an easy task, and for the journey to succeed we need a guide. Ann Askenberger offers just such a guide, making the shadow accessible through a modern fairy tale. If you're ready to come to terms with your shadow, this is a great place to start.
- Laurence Barrett, author of A Jungian Approach to Coaching
Even more reader comments:
"Thought-provoking, want to return to several times"
"Fantastic that you have managed to make such a complicated concept easily accessible"
"Wonderfully liberating story format, so easy to both consume and reflect on yourself"
A few words from the author:
Almost two decades ago, I first read Debbie Ford's book about hugging our shadow. It changed the way I looked at myself and others, at our merits and shortcomings. And it gradually influenced my approach to leadership development.
I have met many capable and ambitious managers who still find it difficult to ground their leadership. And I probably haven't met a leader who doesn't struggle with the flip side of his or her winning face and appearance. What we don't want to be is also there - alongside all the good qualities we have and want to emphasize. The shadow is both simple and difficult to understand. Simple, because it includes everything you don't want to be or think you have to be in order to be accepted. Difficult, because it describes something that most people are not even aware of, and instinctively avoid.
Yes, if only more leaders could accept their shadow side! Helping others to see their whole self has become my driving force, mission and passion. In recent years, thanks to my studies at INSEAD Business School, I have chosen to delve into the theories of how we humans are affected by the subconscious and unconscious. I have also had the opportunity to test my idea of how to connect the timeless psychological principles with modern leadership in a simple and playful way. Over the past 2 years I have worked with over 200 leaders, of which 140 people have gone through my individual leadership training.
Now my own book on the shadow is here. It is written to provide a language for all the different parts we humans contain. My hope is that leaders - and anyone who wants to take greater leadership over their life - will dare to use more sides to better contribute where they are. In doing so, they can have a slightly kinder approach to themselves. It will be exciting to hear how my unconventional interpretation of Jung's classic shadow concept is received.