3.2- Family Persona Vs Shadow
🌱 How This Activity Helps Women Psychospiritual Leaders:
This activity helps women leaders to recognise and understand the origin of their emotional responses, leadership triggers, and protective behaviours transforming unconscious patterns into conscious, empowered leadership. To help women in leadership explore the family persona they showed the world growing up, versus the family shadow they lived privately revealing the roots of unconscious leadership patterns and emotional responses.
In the workplace, family masks are the personas that may quietly influence how we lead over-functioning to earn approval, avoiding conflict to keep peace, or staying emotionally distant to feel in control. By exploring these romantic masks symbolically, we begin to see how they mirror hidden aspects of our leadership style. This awareness allows us to soften the mask, reclaim the parts of ourselves we’ve silenced, and lead with greater authenticity, connection, and emotional freedom.
THE ACTIVITY:
🎭 Instructions:
🖼️ Step 1: The Mask (The Family Persona)
On one side of a blank page (or using a split canvas/journal), draw, paint, or collage an image that represents the family image you were taught to show the world as a child or teen.
This could include:
- Words like “We’re fine,” “Perfect,” “Happy family,”
- Symbols like smiling faces, trophies, religious icons, clean houses, etc.
- Roles you played (peacemaker, achiever, carer, etc.)
✍️ Label this side: “The Family Mask”
🌑 Step 2: The Mirror (The Family Shadow)
On the other side, create a symbolic representation of what was really going on behind closed doors.
Think about:
- Unspoken emotions
- Hidden struggles or trauma
- Joys that went unexpressed
- Family patterns or silences
Use darks and lights, contrasts, or expressive lines to capture the feeling.
✍️ Label this side: “The Family Shadow”
💬 Reflection Questions:
- What did I learn to hide or suppress in order to maintain the family persona?
- How does this mask still show up in my leadership today?
- What part of my shadow self wants to be seen, healed, or expressed now?
- How can I integrate these parts to lead with more authenticity and wholeness?