Internal Family Systems Mapping Exercise.
This is an exercise to get to know your part system and some of the interactions between your different parts.
It can help you map out some parts if you're not aware of what parts you do have inside.
You can do this exercise once or many times.
And at any point in this exercise,
You probably will want to stop and do your drawing and pause and take as much time as you need to pause the recording and then start again with the rest of the exercise.
So the materials you'll need are a large piece of paper,
Some colored pencils,
Some crayons,
Or some colored pens,
Something colorful to draw with,
And some paper.
So begin with thinking about something that you want to do,
But something that gets in your way.
You might want to close your eyes and go inside and just take a minute and see if there's an issue that you have problems with,
Something you're not able to do.
What is this issue or this part that's having difficulty?
How do you experience this issue,
This part?
Get to know it a little bit.
Feel it.
Look at it.
Listen to it.
And maybe once you get a sense of this stuck part around this issue,
You might want to pull out your paper and pens and draw it or just make a color or shape or size on the paper.
It doesn't have to look like anything special.
It's just some kind of felt sense on the paper that will represent this stuck part.
And if it feels right,
You can also add words.
So this might be where you want to stop the recording and go ahead and do your drawing of this stuck part or take more time to feel into it and then do your drawing.
So now that you have your drawing,
You want to sit back and look at the page on the drawing and notice what feelings come up.
Is there a part or more than one part in reaction to this part you've drawn on the page?
And as you get to begin to get a sense of these other parts that might be in reaction to this part on the page,
You might look at what proximity they have to this part and you might want to draw these other parts.
Is there a part that opposes this part?
Is there a part that supports it?
What do these parts want to say or do with this original part?
And again,
Pausing here and maybe do your drawing of these additional parts that have a relationship,
An opposition,
A support,
A fear,
Whatever additional parts might evolve around this initial stuck part.
And once again,
Sitting back and looking at your drawing and again,
Noticing what comes up at these parts,
These new parts you've added.
Are there other parts that are in reaction to these new parts?
Or are there any other parts that you want to represent on the page that are in relationship or are not in relationship to the first part?
Seeing who else is in dialogue with this initial part.
So it's kind of like the layers of an onion.
Start with this first part,
Then you're looking at the parts around or relating to this part,
Protecting it,
Caring for it,
In opposition to it.
And then in this third piece,
You might be looking at even parts that relate to those parts.
Maybe there's someone in opposition to the one in opposition,
The judge of the judge,
The critic of the critic.
Just let it be free association as you look at your drawing and keep putting different drawings on your page until you feel like you've represented all the parts that might be here around this issue.
Until you no longer feel any reactivity coming up in your body.
And for the third time,
Sitting back again and looking at your drawing and look for relationships between parts.
Are there some parts that are aligned?
Are there some parts that are polarized?
What are the dilemmas?
What kinds of parts do you see?
Managers,
Firefighters,
Exiles,
Who protects whom?
Who resists or doesn't like whom?
What do they say to each other or to you?
Really looking at all the interrelationships.
And then lastly,
As you look at your drawing,
Are you able to make some sense of this?
And notice if you were able to access some self-energy in relationship to these parts,
What might that feel like or look like?
If there was a resource or resources available to this situation and these parts,
What would that look like or feel like?
What do these parts need from you?
And lastly,
Which part would you start with or use as a trailhead to give you more information towards more healing?
And finishing up with a big thank you to yourself and to all the parts that showed up on the page today.
Big thank you to each one of them.
And you can come back to this drawing many times.
And like I said,
You can do this exercise again and again for different issues.
You might see the same or similar parts groups show up again and again.
And that will give you information as to what your inner world looks like.
