This fantasy novel I’m writing is a healing project approached from the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy. Each character in the story has been modeled after one of my own parts. I’ve been practicing IFS since 2020 and it revolutionized my life.
It started as a therapy method to help me heal from childhood, relationship and sexual trauma and it grew into a full on lifestyle and spiritual practice. IFS taught me how to love myself in my entirety…to love every part of me and every part of every other person. The unconditional love of god is the leader of the system of parts that are alive within me.
I first experimented with creating art “with my parts” in the form of songwriting. I would let different parts of my personality sit at the piano with me and take over the microphone. It was cathartic to hear their voices come out. It was scary at first. I had to build trust with each part of me over many months.
Now my parts love creating with me. We are all writing this book together. I sit with my parts and we discuss how each character shall behave and what parts of our story we want to tell on the page. I read back and decipher which parts wrote which sentences — they jump in over each other and jumble up sometimes.
As an artist, I am never alone. I am always the leader of a big family of personalities inside me.
IFS showed me how to work with myself in this creative way. Now I can help myself and love myself with an intelligent and compassionate approach, through any emotion. I can help and love others more effectively too because I can see the parts of us interacting while staying connected to the greater truth of who we are behind all the masks.
The great truth… Self…the oneness. In IFS we call it “self energy”.
I practice yoga, meditation and all those lovely ancient ways we have kept along for the journey to help us stay connected to what we really are. Those somatic practices strengthen my ability to tap into and maintain “Self energy” in demand. Being in Self energy (being centered or in higher self as many people call it) allows us to keep a little distance from the emotionally reactive parts. With the distance we can see them clearly and actually help them.
So writing music or this novel is a game of me allowing my parts to take over and express themselves while also bringing in Self energy to facilitate the conversation and organize it into something we can share with the world.
I’ll continue to share on this.
Love & Rainbows,
Cha (and all my parts)