I'm Tim Fortescue,
A life coach coming alongside of folks in their personal and spiritual development.
And I'm going to lead you through a guided meditation exercise to help you access yourself by unblending.
And I'll be using the internal family systems approach.
And know that you can pause this exercise as much as you need to,
But make sure you give yourself and your system the space that you need.
And this exercise will help you explore how yourself,
With a capital S,
Or sometimes I call it the beloved self,
Me and God or something bigger than myself,
At work together in synergy for my good.
But this will help you see how yourself operates inside of you.
And if IFS is new to you,
Check out my recorded talk and meditation on the basic assumptions of IFS.
And you may want to check out Dick Schwartz's book,
No Bad Parts,
Too.
I get this exercise from the book and there are other good exercises in there.
But as we begin,
I invite you to get settled.
It's best to have both feet on the floor if you can.
Notice where your body comes into contact with the ground.
Take a couple deep cleansing breaths.
Just continue taking some time to get comfortable and begin to let your attention go inward.
And we're just going to check in with the parts of you that are present.
See how they're doing.
And remember that a part can surface as a thought,
An impulse,
Feeling,
Sensation,
And in other ways.
And as you notice your parts,
Remind them that you're here with them,
That you can help them.
They're not alone,
That you care about them.
You can expand your purview to include other parts that you may not have noticed in a while.
Just notice what's coming up.
Extend a recognition to all of your parts.
Let them know that you're there.
Let them know that you care for them again,
That you plan to keep getting to know them.
When you have a sense that your parts all feel at least recognized by you,
Ask them to relax and open up space in your mind and your body.
And assure them that it will be just for a little while.
And that the purpose of what we're doing is to let you and them know more and more of who you really are.
And if they're willing,
You'll experience some expanded and spacious awareness.
And see if they'd be willing to let you hold this state that we call self-leadership when we're feeling curiosity,
Calm,
Confidence,
Things like compassion,
Creativity,
Courage,
And connectedness,
And similar feelings.
And even when you open your eyes.
So if your eyes have been closed up to now,
Just try opening them.
See if you can feel the spaciousness.
You might also find that when you open your eyes,
Parts jump back to attention to protect.
The practice of opening your eyes in that state is one step in a process that can lead you to experience a sense of being self-led and embodied in your daily life.
And by practice,
I don't mean that self-leadership is something that you have to build up like a muscle.
What we're doing in this exercise instead is just helping parts increase their trust so that they allow you to embody and lead so that they learn to know that this is safe.
They can have a new experience.
And the more they give it a try and see that nothing terrible happens,
The more willing they'll be to keep giving it a try.
And let your parts take note of how they're being witnessed and received by you and your other parts right now.
More and more you can experience this other way of being and extend it into your daily life.
Just take a bit to notice the spaciousness that you feel.
And if you're not feeling very spacious,
That's okay.
Just sit and notice your parts and be curious if you can.
And as we close the practice,
Thank your parts for all that they're doing.
Thank them for their courage in coming forward today.
And when you're ready,
You can shift your focus back outside again and also see how much you can hold this sense of self as you come back and go about life.
Let your parts know that this isn't your last visit.
Let them know that you'd like to spend more time with them if they'd like that.
Maybe later today or in the next couple of days,
You can bring your attention back to the present moment where you are.
Take a couple final deep cleansing breaths and you can continue about your day.
But thanks for joining me and take good care.
