So this practice is inspired by the internal family system's model of psychotherapy.
And the premise of this model is that we are all a multiplicity of subpersonalities,
And that each one of these subpersonalities or parts has a specific role to play in our psychological system.
Each part of us has an important function.
Each part of us is good and trying to help us in some way.
And so today we're going to try to get to know some of these parts a little bit better and offer them some gratitude for everything that they do for us in our internal and external lives.
So begin by just becoming aware of the body and the space occupied by the body,
And then become aware of your breath flowing in and out as you expand and contract gently on your breath.
Create a sense of curiosity.
There are aspects of you,
Parts of yourself,
Who have to manage and control things,
To analyze and figure things out,
Have to help others,
Protect you,
Get things done.
We call these aspects of the personality the manager parts.
Managers have so many things to do on the to-do list,
And their job is to get those things done.
And they not only manage our external lives and homes and families and relationships and careers,
But they also have to manage the internal world of emotion and the other parts of us.
So these are really hard-working parts.
So maybe you have an image in your mind of like an archetype or color or shape that somehow represents the aspect of you that has to manage things,
Get things done,
Figure things out.
Take a moment and see if you can connect to that aspect of yourself,
And maybe see it in your mind's eye in some form.
Maybe as you come into relationship with this part or parts of yourself,
You might sense that these hard-working managers are tired.
They're exhausted.
They're doing so much,
And they never feel like it's done.
They never feel like it's enough.
There's always more to do.
So can you just take a moment and appreciate how hard your manager parts work?
Maybe offer your manager some gratitude for everything that it does for you.
Notice how it feels in your body to acknowledge this aspect of yourself.
Notice how it feels to offer appreciation.
It's possible that this part of you has never truly been thanked for everything that it does.
So just breathe with your manager part and let it feel your appreciation,
And maybe even invite it to rest even for just a moment in your acknowledgement.
There's another group of parts in IFS that would be nice to acknowledge today.
These parts are called the exiles because nobody wants to feel their feelings.
These are the parts that have the really tough job of carrying painful memories,
Carrying painful feelings or emotions.
Exile parts are often the parts that get triggered by other people,
And they carry painful beliefs.
It's a really tough job to have to be the one to carry painful memories and feelings,
But somebody has to do it.
I'm wondering if you can see an image in your mind of one of these parts.
The painful feelings could be shame or embarrassment,
Exhaustion,
Fear.
It's a good part of you,
Even if it has to carry painful feelings.
So maybe just take a moment to acknowledge it for that job that it does for you,
Having to be the one to carry those memories,
Those emotions,
Beliefs.
Take a moment to just breathe with and be grateful toward the exiled parts of you.
Maybe they show up like childlike parts or whatever form it takes.
Just let it know that you appreciate it.
Another group of parts that we'd like to meet today are called the firefighters.
Their job is to put out the fires of painful feelings when something happens and one of those exiles kind of sneaks into the living room of consciousness.
So as soon as those strong feelings show up,
Our firefighter parts come to the rescue.
They come to distract our minds or numb us out in some way.
So firefighter parts are often the ones that do our distracting or maybe even addictive behaviors.
They help us to avoid or quickly move out of painful feelings when they arise.
And they might do that with drugs or alcohol or TV or sex or scrolling on their phone.
Lots of different ways that our firefighters might come up to help put out strong feelings.
Maybe it's through food.
Sometimes these protector firefighter parts can get a little extreme and locked into their role and that's when we start to see things like addictions.
But even though they might be doing that,
They're doing it for a good reason and they're trying so hard to protect you from feeling the painful feelings the exiles carry.
So no matter what your relationship is to these firefighter parts,
Can you take a moment to just have gratitude towards them?
Maybe there's an image that you can see in your mind's eye of a part of you doing one of those firefighting behaviors and maybe you can just smile to it knowing that it's just trying to help you in the only way it knows how according to its function.
Just breathing with the firefighter parts and noticing what it feels like in the body to hold them in acknowledgement and gratitude.
And finally,
I'd like to invite you to create a round table or a circle of your inner family of parts.
Just invite anyone in that you can see in your mind's eye who's been working hard for you to be good in all areas of your life,
Be successful in your relationships,
In your career.
They're all on the same team but they don't always know that.
So just breathing with all of your parts and holding them all in your gratitude for the specific roles and functions that they play.
Each part of you creates the whole and from your most centered self you can hold all of them in awareness.
All parts of you in loving kindness and appreciation.
This aspect of self that can be grateful towards the parts is the aspect of self that we want in the leadership role in our lives.
It is curious,
It is calm,
It is compassionate and confident.
The self is creative,
Centered,
And deeply grateful for its individual parts.
So from that calm,
Clear,
Centered self,
I invite you to smile to all parts of you.
The ones we met today and ones we haven't.
It feels right.
You could take a deeper fuller breath,
Softly lower your chin,
And bring the palms together at the heart and bring your awareness slowly back to the room.
