Balancing the Light and Dark
Integrating my dark side was a fairly torturous process for me, partly because I made it harder than it had to be. Apparently I do that a lot. :)
One of the problems at the time was my inability to get out of my own way and I continually tried to micro-manage the process rather than giving in to it and going where it wanted to take me. Part of that was from my own misconceptions about the light and dark and my reactions to them.
Many of us spend a long time trying to suppress the various elements of our light and dark sides partially because we're taught to believe that light is 'good' and dark is 'evil' as if the 2 extremes didn't exist in all of us.
For example, a lot of healers tend to shy away from the dark side and when it does manifest it's usually in some context that the healer may be shocked by or ashamed of. Thereafter the healer may have a negative connotation with the dark side of their being. Sometimes these connotations can come from events that happen when we're small children or even possibly be hold-overs from past lives.
It's important to find examples of the dark and light that can be manifested positively and enjoyably as everything has to balance and it