The Inner Guide and working with other parts

The Inner Guide is just one part of the individual’s psyche. In an ideally healthy psyche, the Inner Guide is connected to all other parts of the individual and is able to understand and have compassion for other parts. My goal for my clients is to be able to access their Inner Guide such that they can understand all of the parts of them that are reacting to their environment and try to decide what to do with all perspectives considered.

In the case of polarized parts, the Inner Guide would be able to understand both perspectives and would feel compassion for both sides simultaneously, rather than feeling that the individual must choose which side is “bad” and which one is “good.” For example: the Inner Guide could notice a part of the individual who wants to get exercise and value this perspective, while simultaneously recognizing and being compassionate towards the seemingly contradictory want of a part that gets the individual to stay on the couch and scroll through their social media feed instead. The Inner Guide sees that both of these parts have a good intention for the individual, and just are having an issue because these intentions seem to be at odds with each other.

When a client is connected with their Inner Guide, they can still notice any part of them that they would like to adjust or that does not seem to be working ideally for them. The Inner Guide is just really good at being compassionate towards other parts of the individual even if those other parts are being identified as something to adjust. For example: instead of saying “I need to stop scrolling social media and laying on the couch because this part of me is bad and is self-sabotaging my efforts to exercise”, the Inner Guide would be able to kindly say “this poor part of me who wants me to rest and get in some social media time is struggling to work cooperatively with the part of me who wants me to get exercise. I wonder if there is any way I can help them to compromise.”

The Inner Guide is a natural mediator. Its qualities lend itself to this task effortlessly. Once the individual is more able to consistently access their Inner Guide, they find that they are more able to resolve any polarities between parts of them. Sometimes this means finding a compromise between two parts and sometimes this means adjusting how a part or parts operate within the individual. The best part of doing this work is that the client becomes increasingly confident about how to resolve internal disagreements, until they eventually report a sense of not needing me to operate as an external guide (counselor) for them anymore.

This is my greatest joy as a counselor: to see someone confidently walk away from my services because they now feel internally guided and ready to take on challenges on their own.

If this is something you are interested in, contact me! I look forward to being truly helpful to you.