Meeting Yourself With Curiosity

In this guided meditation, Dr. Richard Schwartz, founder of Internal Family Systems (IFS), invites you to gently meet the parts of your inner system with compassion and curiosity. This practice helps create space, soften inner conflict, and support emotional integration.

Transcript

Welcome to Day 27 of the Mid-Year Reset here on Insight Timer,

Your daily moment to pause,

Reflect,

And return to yourself.

Consistency is where real change begins.

Enjoy today's session.

Hi,

I'm Dick Schwartz,

And I developed something called Maternal Family Systems,

And this meditation is based on that,

And can be used in a wide variety of settings and ways.

Every day I do some version of this with myself.

So to begin this version of the meditation,

I'd like you to think of a goal you have or a situation you're facing that requires courage,

And just take a second until something comes to you.

And then when you have that in mind,

Go ahead and focus on it in your mind's eye.

Just imagine the goal or the situation,

And notice what happens in your body and your mind as you focus on that.

So notice the thoughts that come,

The impulses,

Notice sensations in your body,

Motions.

And we're going to first just get a sense of what happens when you face these things.

And from my point of view,

All of that is coming from different parts of you,

What we call trail heads.

So I'm going to invite you to pick one,

And maybe it's the part of you that's afraid to face this or do something about it,

Or maybe it's the part of you that really wants to plow through it and get that to happen.

But just focus on one of those parts,

One of those emotions,

One of those impulses,

Thought patterns,

Sensations,

As a starting point,

And find it in your body or around your body,

And then notice how you feel toward it.

So if it's a fear,

Maybe you have an attitude toward it that gets in your way,

Or maybe you kind of blend with it and it takes over.

But I'd like to see if it's possible for you to just get curious about it,

And if it's not possible,

Then you can get to know the parts that have the attitude and use them as the target part for this exercise.

But if it is possible,

Then go ahead and ask this part of you what it wants you to know.

And don't think of the answer.

Just wait and see what comes from that place in your body.

And then a follow-up question is,

What's it afraid would happen if it didn't give you this feeling or this impulse?

Again,

Just wait for the answer,

Don't think.

And then the last question is,

What does this part of you need from you?

So there is a you who's relating to it,

And what does it need from you going forward?

Again,

Just wait for the answer.

So this was designed to help you just get a start on getting to know some of these parts that surround whatever you're facing.

And I encourage you to continue with the relationship with them.

Reviews

Interesting experience. Helpful
Thank you.

Thank you 👍

Awesome 😎

Simple but extremely helpful leading to clarity. My manager part wants to drive me back to workaholism; and in recovery, I’ve been ignoring him and as a result, I’ve become almost disabled to work and now I’m offering him compassion. He was just trying to keep me safe from being shamed and now offering a new role to manage with life’s balance work play rest so that I can accomplish work in a spirit of peace and harmony.

Allowing myself to be curious about the situation I was focusing on gave me a sense of safety and new perspectives on the situation. That being curious allowed me to see more clearly without the constant judgement that I usually have towards myself as I am processing my thoughts and feelings about my life and my family. Especially the anger towards my parents and my brother…anger is a stage of grief.

Thanks so very much, Richard. I love your work 🙏

Very helpful, and moving short practice. Thank you. 🙏

Thank you Dick! I love IFS. It has helped me more than anything else (and I've tried a lot of different things)!

Such a deeply needed and appreciated tool.

Thank you!!

Love seeing Internal Family Systems being showcased in a Challenge on Insight Timer!