"I realized then that all of these aspects of my being were qualities for which I had been praised at one time or another. No wonder I was confused! It was only then, when I looked at my "shadow side," and I saw clearly why others sometimes called these my "negative" behaviors, that I also saw the gift in each of them. All I had to do was use those behaviors differently. Not repress them. Not disown them. Simply use them differently.
I have come to understand the extraordinary importance of leading an integral life. That is, of allowing myself to first notice, then to blend, all the aspects of who I am -- those that I and others have called "positive" and those that I and others have called "negative" -- into a grander Whole.
Through this process I have made friends with myself at last. But, oh, how long it took to get there! And how much shorter the process (could) have been..." -- Neale Donald Walsch, author of "Conversations with God," in his introduction to "The Dark Side of the Light Chasers," by Debbie Ford.
