159 Who Are My Parts and Why Do They Battle Within Me?
Feb 3, 2025
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Dr. Gerry Crete, a licensed marriage and family therapist and founder of Transfiguration Counseling, teams up with Bridget Adams, an IFS-trained coach, to explore the internal conflicts we all face. They dive into the concept of 'parts' within us that influence our actions and thoughts, detailing how these internal voices can lead to struggles with addictions and behaviors we dislike. The conversation emphasizes the importance of integrating these parts for emotional balance, healing, and ultimately, a deeper connection with God and others.
The concept of parts illustrates the internal conflicts we experience, reflecting our multifaceted nature and complex emotional landscape.
Internal Family Systems (IFS) provides a framework for embracing and integrating our various parts, promoting healing through compassion and understanding.
Recognizing the impact of trauma on our parts allows for deeper self-awareness and fosters healing, leading to a more cohesive and resilient self.
Deep dives
Understanding Our Parts
Parts refer to distinct aspects of our inner selves that contribute to our overall personality. These parts can reflect different emotions, behaviors, and memories, representing a kind of internal diversity. The concept of parts suggests that individuals may experience conflicting desires, such as the urge to work out versus the desire to relax, illustrating our multifaceted nature. Embracing this complexity allows for greater self-awareness and understanding of how different parts interact and influence our thoughts and actions.
The Role of Internal Family Systems
Internal Family Systems (IFS) provides a framework for understanding and nurturing our parts through compassion and acceptance. It emphasizes the importance of connecting with these parts in a relational manner rather than attempting to eliminate or fuse them into a singular identity. By recognizing each part's unique contributions, individuals can facilitate healing and integration, creating harmony within themselves. This approach highlights that all parts, including those viewed as burdensome, have intrinsic value and deserve understanding.
The Impact of Trauma on Parts
Trauma can significantly influence the development and functioning of our parts, often leading to parts remaining stuck at certain developmental stages. These parts may carry burdens from past experiences and adopt protective roles to cope with emotional pain. Recognizing and addressing the impact of trauma allows individuals to better understand their parts and facilitate their healing. By fostering a safe environment for these parts, individuals can help them release their burdens and integrate more fully into the self.
The Process of Integration
Integration involves fostering relationships among our parts, allowing them to communicate and collaborate rather than remain isolated. This process encourages individuals to view their parts as allies in their personal growth, rather than adversaries that must be suppressed. Helping parts feel valued leads to a more cohesive sense of self, promoting emotional well-being and resilience. Engaging with and understanding the intentions of each part enables individuals to cultivate a richer, more harmonious inner life.
The Spiritual Dimension of Parts Work
The exploration of our parts is deeply intertwined with spiritual growth and understanding. Each part has a role in helping us to engage with our faith, love God, and serve others, emphasizing our worth as beloved children of God. By connecting our innermost self with our parts, we acknowledge that all aspects of ourselves are valuable and worthy of love and acceptance. This spiritual insight reinforces the importance of nurturing every part, enabling us to live authentically and compassionately both towards ourselves and others.
Dr. Gerry Crete helps us unravel the confusion within us, why we have such deep internal conflicts and tensions that pull us in different directions and tear at our hearts. St. Paul tells us in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” What’s up with that? Parts. Parts are up with that, that’s what -- or who. And in this episode, Dr. Gerry and Bridget Adams shed so much light on our internal experience in our fallen human condition. Join us to learn about how parts, despite their good intentions and desires to help us, can generate impulses toward addictions and other problematic and even sinful behaviors. Learn how critical it is for parts to be integrated, to collaborate cooperatively with your inmost self, and most importantly, how parts can join in your loving God and neighbor with your whole heart in Dr. Gerry’s experiential exercise. For the full video experience with visuals, graphics, and discussion in the comments section, check us out on our YouTube channel here: www.youtube.com/@InteriorIntegration4Catholics
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