Loving our painful parts

How do you feel towards the parts of yourself that cause you pain? Those parts that act out, are selfish, critical, or downright cruel.

A place my well intending clients often get stuck is in hating on those parts and trying to get rid of them. Informed by spiritual teachings, they call them ego, character defect, defilements, enter your own term here ______. Whatever they’re called, these parts are seen as problems that need to be eliminated.

And it’s true, these parts do act out in ways that cause a lot of problems.

But when we go into attack mode, they simply fight back, getting louder. Or if they retreat, taking their energy further beneath our conscious awareness where they can play out in even more troubling ways.

What if you met these painful parts with loving awareness instead, got curious about them, and helped them alchemize their pain? They just might turn into beautiful allies.

It sounds crazy but it really does work.