The ‘shadow’ is the side of your personality that contains all the parts of yourself that you don’t want to admit to having. Some see the shadow parts as being negative and that's not true at all. Your shadows are what you yourself perceive as dark and weak about yourself, and therefore need to be hidden, rejected, or denied. Others say it’s the disowned self. It is at first an unconscious side and only through the effort to become self-aware that we recognize our shadows.