Hey, welcome back to Day

Five of our Un-challenge.

In yesterday's session, we explored

the theme of intuitive guidance,

learning to connect to an inner knowing

and inner voice that is more you,

that when you listen to it and make

decisions from it, it can actually

bring you more in alignment with

yourself rather than out of alignment.

In today's session, I want to

talk about the idea of letting

go and trusting that inner voice,

because it's not always that easy.

Maybe you've experienced for yourself

this sense of, I know what to do.

I have a feeling of this is what's

right for me, but it gets complicated.

These thoughts come in that cause you to

doubt yourself or different emotions of

fear that make you not take the next step.

So why is that?

Well, we have all these

different parts of us.

In the therapeutic modality, internal

family systems, they describe that, you

know, you have your authentic self, they

call it your true self, but then there are

all these other parts that emerge as well.

And so there might be a part that's

more like a manager and it's there

to make sure you're thinking through

everything very logically, all the pros

and the cons, the consequences of doing

things, really staying in control.

Maybe another part comes up that helps put

out the fires when things can go wrong.

Or maybe another part that stays sad in

certain moments, because you've learned

that when you stay sad, you get attention.

So all of these arise at different

points in our life and some of them

become core aspects of our identity.

And if we're not aware of them,

they can actually come in and

really run the show of our life.

And that's not always bad.

I mean, some of these parts were

put in place for a very good reason.

In fact, all of them arose for a very

good reason at a particular time.

But as years go on, we don't always

need those parts in the same way.

Something that was used to keep

us safe or protected or help us

navigate the difficult situation in

childhood might not necessarily be

useful when we're in our twenties,

thirties, forties, fifties, or sixties.

And yet it may still show up in situations

like our intimate relationships or at

our work where maybe fear arises and we

quickly go into an old pattern of avoiding

or over-analyzing or doubting ourselves.

So how do we begin to work with

that so that we're leading our

life from more of our true self?

Well, one of the things that is necessary

is that those parts that have adapted,

maybe let's say the manager part, that

part needs to see, it really needs to

be convinced that you have the resources

to navigate your life without its help.

If it thinks that it needs to be

there in order for you to be safe

or to get love or to avoid pain,

it's going to continue to persist.

That is its job.

That is why it arose, to keep

you safe and protected and loved.

So if it's still thinks that you don't

have the resources to navigate your

life or that something bad could go

wrong, it's going to continue to arise.

And this is where a lot of what

we've done so far comes in.

You're learning to connect

to a place within you that

is more grounded, embodied,

empowered, surrendered, trusting.

Because the reality is, those

fear-based parts, those manager-based

parts that arise, they're often not

aware of the new resources you have.

I mean, when you're a child and something

goes wrong or a parent or a caregiver

says something to you that feels difficult

or painful, you don't really have the

inner narrative that can say, "All

right, you know, this is their stuff.

It's not based on me.

It doesn't mean that I'm

not worthy or lovable."

No.

The system adapts and internalizes that.

And then maybe you beat yourself up or you

tell yourself, "Well, I can't put myself

out there because it could lead to pain."

It's an adaptive strategy.

Later in life, if we don't realize

that we have new resources to

navigate those moments, something

like rejection or betrayal, that

part is still going to get activated.

And this is where learning to work

with our emotions, like fear, like

sadness and seeing that we can feel

this emotion and we can still be okay

or a thought can arise that says,

"I don't know if we should do this."

And we can just notice it as a

thought passing through the mind.

We've been doing this a

lot in our meditations.

Doing that is developing new internal

resources to navigate the ebb and

the flow of your life, including the

difficult experiences that arise.

So you're already setting that foundation.

In today's meditation, what we're

going to explore is connecting to

an inner part of you, we're going to

call it a guide, that is your most

grounded, authentic self that represents

that place that is the truest you.

And we're going to have that part

interact with maybe the more manager

controlling part so that they

can begin to have a relationship.

And the truer you can give some

information and guidance to that

underdeveloped or older part to let

it know that it can trust it, that you

have the resources to navigate your

life from a more mature, grounded, adult

place rather than this younger version.

So I'm excited to try that out with you.

Thanks for your practice as always.

And let's settle in

for today's meditation.