From a Place of Self

Today I get to speak with my dear friend Rukmini Poddar who shares her journey of overcoming the fear of being seen, which includes getting to know parts of her (and all of us) that sometimes think it's safe to play small. At the end of our talk we get to do a live IFS session together. 

Today we get to speak with Priya Mehra, who speaks honestly and courageously about re-inventing herself as a single mother and pursuing her career as a coach. We discuss how to honestly reflect and emrace all the pieces of our own story in a way that allows us to hold space and create empowerment for those around us. 

While it may be scary or intimidating to explore our inner world, IFS invites us to befriend the chaos inside by learning to listen to parts of us seeking attention. When we do this curiously and compassionately we can bring harmony to the chaos by learning about our parts and bringing them into a loving relationship with our Self, which our true essence. 

There is a critical question that we don't often ask in relationships. Without addressing this question, we can try endless techniques and practices to nagivate our tensions and conflicts or try to improve the external circumstances without finding lasting, sustainable results. This question empowers us to craft the experience of life we want, without forcing everyone else around us to change. 

Today we get to spend with my good friend Parastou, who talks about her journey through an early intimate relationship and the hopes and dreams that certain parts of her carried for life at that time. We discuss the ways in which our parts can take us away from our Self in the pursuit of what we think we need or want, and what it looks like to make that journey back to our Self whenever we feel lost of disconnected

IFS helps us understand intimacy in a way that isn't confined, restricted or often set up for failure by the modern concept of romance. When we expand our understanding of intimate relationhsips to go beyond the expectation that our partner is meant to make us feel a certain way all the time or make up for lost love in childhood, we enter into more mature, healthy and fulfilling connections. 

We're not meant to do it all alone, even on our healing journey and spiriutal path. When I feel tired or overwhelmed, it's a good signal to see where I'm feeling disconnected and where I might need to invite a higher spiritual energy back into my life. 

Take a moment today to pause, breathe, and ask the question: what's going on in my inner space right now? What needs attention or what am uncomfortable addressing inside myself right now? These questions can sometimes be scary, and don't have to be addressed all at once, but we owe it ourselves to take a little time each day to check in and acknowledge which parts of us need most attention right now. 

Ever feel like you're someone else's project? Or do you ever feel like your partner isn't cooperating in your plan to make your life better? Today we look at taking a You-turn in our relationships by bringing the focus back to ourselves and cultivating our primary Self-relationship. 

When we care for ourselves emotionally we open up more space to connect with others intimately. Caring for ourselves emotionally means turning towards those hurt and wounded parts of ourselvs that are carrying our loneliness, insecurity, or sense of unlovability and sharing with them the natural compassion of our true Self, which we can access when we're more connected to divine Source. 

Today we look at the roles we sometimes sign other people up for and the ways those roles can block authentic, genuine love between us. When we release people from those roles and expectations of how we think they're supposed to compensate for what I might feel is lacking in me, then a new type of courageous love can emerge that is fulfilling and genuine. 

Today we look at the expectations we sometimes place on others to fill our emotional gaps. We also explore how we can acknowledge the parts in us that we normally try to push away and what it means to welcome them, understand them, and help them transform.

Today we look at the inherent connections we have with others beyond physical, external designations. When we look deeper than what’s on the surface, we can see that our external conflicts can become catalysts for us to find the deeper sense of Self within us that is connected to the deeper sense of Self in others.