There is no doubt that humans are very complex beings and the truth is, we have to accept that we will never know the full truth of the what’s, why’s and how’s of humanity’s existence. However, I believe that for whatever reason, we were specifically designed not to have the capacity to truly understand the truths of how this universe really works. We may have inklings, intuitive feelings, and ways of conceptualizing and categorizing the world from the mindscape, but we will never truly know what it all means and why it all exists as it does. And there is a beauty in the great mystery, even though we will probably spend most of our brainpower and energy trying to make sense of it all. The reality is, it is just beyond our capacity to comprehend such a great knowing. However, there is hope! Underneath the surface of this human experience lies a deeply complicated existence, made up of many entities and sub-personalities with preferences, agendas and missions all their own. They share space in the human body and conscious mind projecting their learned behaviors out into the world, making up a complicated inner family within each individual. In Internal Family Systems, we call these “parts”. It represents the many parts of us that hold preferences derived from specific memories and experiences each part endured which facilitated their creation within the system. Their inception was often sourced from trauma (big “T” or little “t”) or discomforts when the individual was incapacitated to hold the emotions of the experience at hand. Their creation was a way to create safety within the system to ensure we do not stay in fight, flight, freeze or fawn for too long and attempt to calm the nervous system as much as possible.
Different Types of Parts: Exiles and Protectors