When capacity feels low, it’s often because parts of us are already working hard to manage what’s happening inside. Through the lens of Internal Family Systems (IFS), we can begin to understand how this inner management uses energy that could otherwise support presence, creativity, and connection. With compassion and Self-leadership, that energy becomes available again.

Living from the Authentic Self isn’t about perfection. It’s about learning to lead your life with compassion, curiosity, and courage. This final article in the Authentic Self Series shows how the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model turns healing into everyday living.

Healing through IFS is powerful, but you don’t have to do it alone. Learn how coaching supports the recovery of your Authentic Self and when it’s right for you.

Protectors guard us from the shame and pain carried by exiles. In IFS, healing means pausing, witnessing, and unburdening — reclaiming the Authentic Self.

We all begin life connected to the True Self, but painful experiences form layers of shame and protection that hide it. This article uses simple illustrations to show how the False and Shame Identities develop—and how the IFS model helps us return to Self.

Recovery doesn’t begin with dramatic breakthroughs - it begins in small moments of pausing, noticing, and choosing curiosity. These first steps open the door to living as your authentic Self.

Discover how childhood beliefs and strategies shape false identities—and how recovery means remembering and living as your authentic Self.

After 35 years in AA, I discovered that fear and shame are not the only paths to sobriety. Internal Family Systems (IFS) offers a compassionate, empowering alternative that heals the wounds driving addictive behaviors.

Discover powerful learning and networking opportunities at the 2025 Parts Work Practice Conference, designed specifically for IFS practitioners and personal growth enthusiasts.

Internal conflict can create dysfuncition and lack of clarity. It can make it difficult to make good decisions. What if you had a quick and reliable way to resolve inner conflict?

Struggling with self-esteem doesn’t mean you’re broken. It often means a part of you is carrying a painful belief like “I’m not good enough.” This article explores how to improve self-worth through a compassionate IFS-based process—by listening to and supporting those parts, not silencing them.

To live from love and compassion and joy and all, and to live from these self resourced places, what actually seems to be needed is to address the fears, acknowledge them and address them head on.

When blame, shame, or criticism flare in a close relationship, your nervous system can feel hijacked. This post shows you how to pause, step away, and combine Internal Family Systems with Byron Katie’s Judge-Your-Neighbor worksheet. The step-by-step dialogue helps you unblend from reactive parts, restore inner safety, and return to the conversation centered and clear.

Imagine your capacity to cope with everyday stress and challenges as a backpack. Each unresolved emotional wound or past trauma is like a heavy stone placed in your pack. As these stones accumulate, your backpack becomes heavier, using more of your strength just to carry it, and leaving you less capacity to handle the new challenges you encounter throughout the day.

Life coaching or therapy? What’s the difference and how do you know which to choose. Here are some questions to ask yourself and a therapist or coach when making your choice.

Learn how to recognize and respond to emotional triggers using the IFS model. This guide walks you through the unblending process so you can shift from overwhelm to clarity and compassion.

The Self in IFS can be a difficult concept to grasp. Maybe that’s because we’ve been getting it all wrong. What if there is no separate Self? Rather, Self is within each part, just waiting to be manifested as Self-energy.

Thanks to the support I received over the years from countless 12-step members from my first AA sponsor Randy E. to my last one, Bryan L., I recognized my need to stop drinking, start getting honest with myself, begin to think of others, clean up my past, and develop a relationship with a Higher Power. I will be forever grateful for the love and support of the AA fellowship which made it possible for me to remain sober since November 15, 1982.

I don’t feel complete until I feel resolved, finished, reconnected, clear, satisfied, or free. I feel complete when my questions are answered, when I feel fully reassured, or when I am no longer upset. I can also feel complete when I recognize that the push for completion requires more energy and effort than I am willing to exert. I can feel complete once I’ve decided I’ve done as much as I am willing to do to feel resolved.

Coaching is more than just problem solving. By looking a little deeper than the presenting problem, deeper problems can be illumnated and resolved. Often boundaries are used to manage a challenge. But what if you could just resolve it once and for all?