Kids perceive the world in the darndest ways.
This adorable toddler, startled at the sight of her own shadow, attempts to run away, screaming bloody murder. But as us adults know all too well, the only thing you truly cannot escape is yourself. We must learn to live with ourselves, to accept ourselves.
The toddler’s failed attempt to run away is, of course, reminiscent of Jung’s psychological concept of the shadow. In an article for Psychology Today, Dr. Stephen A. Diamond defines the shadow as “the unknown ‘dark side’ of our personality—dark both because it tends to consist predominantly of the primitive, negative, socially or religiously depreciated human emotions and impulses like sexual lust, power strivings, selfishness, greed, envy, anger or rage, and due to its unenlightened nature, completely obscured from consciousness.”
Perhaps this young girl is a little more enlightened than your average child, for she sees her shadow, and once she gazes into the darkness, there is no going back.
Ah, to be young again!
Photo via Georgie R/Flickr (CC BY ND 2.0)