Reflection and Renewal

I’m writing this at the new year, but any time of year can feel like a time to renew our commitment to ourselves. Choose a significant period of time to reflect on — the past year, the past season, the duration of a significant event, the time since something life-changing happened — and take some deep breaths, allowing memories to flow in and out.

As they flow, notice the effort your parts put into keeping you going, in whatever ways they did that. If you feel some openness toward these parts, take the time to acknowledge and appreciate them, just as you would acknowledge and appreciate a friend.

Now see if you can allow your parts the space to let you know what it was like for them during this time. Were they worried things wouldn’t work out? Were they soldiering on so hard that they weren’t able to attend to other things? Did parts feel left out? Ignored? Relied upon? Proud of what they accomplished? Eager for more?

As you listen, breathe deeply. Remember, your parts are trying to connect with you, to tell you how they feel. This is a time to allow, not to censor. The more you allow, the. more you notice that when you let parts say what they need to say and listen with respect and compassion, there’s often little more that’s needed.

Now, let your parts know that this is a good time for them to share how they envision this next phase going. Do they have requests, suggestions, ideas, and desires to share? Try touching into parts who have different roles in your system — parts who manage things day-to-day, parts who see the big picture, parts who have strong feelings about what they don’t want to happen, very young parts who might have not been seen much in their early lives, etc. What would each part like to add to life? What would each part like less of?

To complete the reflection/renewal session, consider creating an artistic piece that acknowledges what has been and envisions what’s to come. Collages are great for this, because parts can direct you to choose a picture or two that captures their ideas, and all parts can then feel included. You could do two pieces, if that feels right — one for the recent past, one as an intention for the upcoming phase.

This process can happen gradually, or you can do it all in one session. It’s an opportunity for us to acknowledge and appreciate our parts and to hear their wisdom. What a helpful practice!