Introduction
When you ask most people what it is that they really want deep down inside they will tell you: Peace. What keeps us from experiencing Peace? The Mind-Chatter that is so familiar to anyone who has ever tried to meditate. The loudest voice in that mind-chatter is often the Critic.
Ever wondered what that critical voice is all about? You know, the one that says you’re too fat, or too thin, or reviews what you said at a social gathering and is horrified? Yes that one.
Well, Internal Family Systems work is in part about learning how to work with that critical voice, and to recognise it as an ally instead of an adversary.
How? Well first you need to do some unlearning about some commonly held assumptions. The principal one being that you have one single personality. Not true. In fact holding on to that belief is the cause of more self-created unhappiness than you can imagine.
I invite you to reflect for a moment on what happens for you when someone invites you to a movie for example. Have you ever heard yourself say, “Well, a part of me would love to go but another part wants a quiet night at home.” Of course you have, we say stuff like that all the time. Why? Because the “parts” are real. They belong to your personality system.
Once we grasp this simple fact it opens the door to paying attention to the whole system and helping out parts that are trying to get your attention.
This new understanding of the personality system was developed by Richard Schwartz PhD, founder of INTERNAL FAMILY SYSTEMS.
