Naming Parts (Therapy Tool 2 Of 11)

This is the third audio in an 11-part Core Therapy Tools series. In this gentle lesson, you’ll learn how to create space around strong emotions by recognizing that feelings like anxiety, anger, or shame are parts of your experience, not the whole of who you are.
Rather than trying to push emotions away, this practice helps you relate to them with more curiosity and less overwhelm.

Transcript

Therapy tool number three, Naming parts, Creating space around strong emotions. You don't need to be calm here. You don't need to understand anything yet. Just notice your breathing. Notice that something in you is listening, And that's enough. Sometimes emotions don't just visit us. They take over. Anxiety feels like who you are. Anger feels like who you are. Shame feels like who you are. It can feel like there's no space between you and that feeling. No room to step back. But what if instead of being one solid thing, You're made of different responses that activate at different times? What if anxiety is not you? What if it's only a part of you? Instead of saying, I am anxious, What if instead we said a part of me feels anxious? Just that small shift. When we say I am anxious, It's like we're standing under a waterfall. The water is loud. It's heavy. It's everywhere. We feel one with the overwhelm of the rushing waters. But when we say a part of me feels anxious, We step to the side. The waterfall is still there. We can see it. We can still even maybe feel it, But we're no longer completely consumed by it. That space between you and the waterfall, You and the anxiety, Changes everything. Now you're suddenly able to look around and see different parts of the scene. While you can feel that part of you that is anxious, You can look around and remember the part of you that is calm waters, That is a steady tree with its leaves blowing in the wind. You can remember the part of you that has childlike wonder, The part of you that is the fish swimming in the water. This anxiety, This guilt, This shame, This anger, This fear, Even when it is the loudest emotion at the forefront, It will never be all of who you are. Just a piece, Just one piece, One part of the entire big, Wide, Vast picture of you. So maybe bring to mind something mildly stressful from today. Notice what emotion was present. Now gently think, A part of me feels and let that sentence finish itself. See if you can notice where this part shows up in your body, Your chest, Your stomach. As I do this exercise, That's where I remember feeling mine. But for others, Maybe it's your jaw, Your shoulders. And you don't have to analyze it. That's not what we're doing here. We just notice it. We just say, Oh, Okay, That part is there. Now give the part maybe a simple name. Maybe that's the anxious part. Maybe it's the protective part. Maybe it's your worried part. Notice if something softens when you name it. Parts are rarely trying to hurt us. They're usually trying to protect. Even if they're loud, Even if they're exhausting. See if you can quietly tell that part of you, I see you. I know you're trying to help me. We're not pushing the emotion away. We're not numbing it. We're not pretending it's smaller than it is. We're staying with it, Bearing witness to it without becoming it. Now imagine standing again under the waterfall. Feel how intense it is. Now say, A part of me feels this waterfall. And then take one step away and out of the waterfall. You can still see it, Still hear it, Still feel the mist, But you are not the waterfall. This is what naming parts does. That gives you room, Room to breathe, Room to choose. Room to stay present, Room to be you. And it doesn't need to be any deeper than this. You don't need to fix anything. Just notice. The next time you feel something taking over, You try this small shift. A part of me feels, And then name the emotion. See what happens. This is just a part of me. It's not all of me. Maybe even try to add, Oh, I remember the other parts of me too. And sometimes in the moment of intensity, We can, Sometimes we can't. But just see what happens. Doing all of this naming, Not to make feelings that we don't care to have, Not to make them disappear, But to create space, Make room. And remember, There's, There's more to you. You're more, And you're enough.