Fostering an intra-personal connection is a prerequisite for external change, and your human design is a source of insight about who you are underneath all of your roles and personas.
Additionally, your internal system is easily impacted when you’re in relationships with others, making it unrealistic to maintain a high-vibe or peaceful state at all times. However, the more aware you are of how you feel, the more you can pause, take a breath, and self-regulate.
As Thich Nhat Hanh asserted, “If you don’t communicate well with yourself, you cannot communicate well with another person.”
Gain clarity and confidence through inner dialogue.
You must understand your internal managerial and protective system to shift from your current to desired state. This system shows up as various differentiated parts that operate based on purpose and function. Like any partnership or collaboration, you need your inner team’s alignment, consensus, and buy-in to adjust your way of being.
An Internal Family Systems (IFS) coaching session is a therapeutic way to turn inward, garner insight, and expand your intuitive capacity. The session provides a safe space to connect with your core Self, discovering your best qualities and protective parts that proactively manage how you show up and handle life. Furthermore, it enables you to distinguish which aspects are resisting and impeding the shift you’re seeking.
Internal alignment is essential for transformation.
Your energy ping-pongs between polarities when you’re out of alignment, creating discomfort and hindering advancement. Your desires, values, and goals must be congruent with your outward persona and actions to be at peace and change your habitual patterns.
Like deep coaching, IFS can help you tap into your truth by appreciating all aspects of yourself and objectively observing and processing your thoughts, feelings, and bodily responses.
Additionally, IFS can help you:
Address systemic patterns.
What triggers you is usually a sign of something you’re already sensing consciously or unconsciously. Like a mirror’s reflection, triggers raise awareness of parts of you that require attention. As Carl Jung said, “What you resist persists.” Understanding the reasons for activations enables you to differentiate between yourself, your parts, and your behaviors, identify root causes, and let go of what’s no longer serving you.
Mediate internal conflict.
Many inherent contradictions and forces coexist within you. Like a disparate team, listening to each party and ensuring they feel heard and seen is crucial for progress. During an IFS session, your coach can guide you through creating a “Self to part” connection to establish a shared purpose and facilitate dialogue. For example, talk through challenges, foster acceptance, minimize judgment, and release discomfort.
Heal previous wounds.
There are many different reasons why parts of you may be stuck in the past or bringing up old stories. Depending on the causes, your coach may refer you to a licensed health professional. However, an IFS coaching session can help you pinpoint where a similar feeling or situation occurred and uncover why your survival instincts have been deployed. With your system’s permission, you can “reparent” these childlike parts, updating them on your current age and capabilities to liberate them.
Determine the best course of action.
As you close out of an IFS session, it’s vital to thank your system for what was shared and commit to the next steps. This can include checking in more regularly or working with parts to redirect their energy in support of your goals. As you reclaim agency over past events and what has formed in response, you can shift your mindset, update your narrative, and choose a path forward.
Take ownership of your well-being.
As Mahatma Gandhi stated, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” When you externalize an issue, you give authority to something outside of you. By discerning between your thoughts versus what others may have impressed upon you, you can gain valuable insight into unanswered questions, process your thoughts and emotions to work through difficult decisions, and problem-solve. As an IFS Coach, creating a safe space supporting your transformation would be a privilege. You can schedule a free IFS consultation here.
Deepen your perspective to activate your best.
As a lifelong student, certified professional coach, and consultant, activating the best in others through self-leadership, interpersonal relations, and team dynamics are passions of mine. My approach is personalized and customized, tapping into various assessments, disciplines, modalities, and techniques.