Parts on Paper: An IFS Journalling Challenge

This 3-week exploration will be light in nature, yet aim to reach deep. We’ll investigate a single, simple theme from the Zen Buddhist tradition through multiple perspectives, intertwining it with the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model.

The guiding statement is: “No vain cloud in the mind, and for you it is a good season.”

While this Zen teaching offers clarity, we’ll acknowledge that our minds are often filled with thoughts that can cloud our view and distort our life experience. Through writing, we’ll create a safe, brave space to coax our shy muses out of hiding and dive into memories we may have long exiled.

I’m excited to embark on this journey of self-discovery alongside everyone who joins. Though I will guide the group, I will be just as much a participant as each of you. After all, one of the best tools for knowing ourselves better is the practice of open, free-flowing writing.

Each week, we’ll unpack one of the core concepts from IFS therapy:

Week 1: How are your inner “managers” and “controllers” operating? What strategies do they use to keep things running smoothly (or not)?

Week 2: Exploring the “protectors” and roots of our impulsive behaviours. What emotions are driving us, and how can we develop greater self-awareness?

Week 3: Reaching out a compassionate hand to tend to our “exiled” parts. How can we integrate these disowned aspects of ourselves?

I will provide thought-provoking prompts to get us started each week, but the writing itself will be open-ended, allowing space for personal exploration and insight. This process offers an opportunity to transform experiences into beautiful, soul-touching art, alchemizing pain into gold.

Writing and sharing our stories while allowing emotions to flow through us in this safe, sacred space is a key part of the healing process. With IFS guiding our writing experience, we can go deeper in a safer fashion, ensuring we get permission from the parts of us that are afraid to connect with our wounded aspects.

This course is offered on a donation basis. Proceeds will go towards funding my IFS Level 2 training in October. The suggested contribution range is:

• R500 – R1000 (South African Rand)
• $25 – $50 (US Dollars)

I look forward to embarking on this introspective journey with you. To join, simply send me a message here to say you are in!

“If you’re writing, you’re a writer. Write like you’re a goddamn death row inmate and the governor is out of the country and there’s no chance for a pardon. Write like you’re clinging to the edge of a cliff, white knuckles, on your last breath, and you’ve got just one last thing to say, like you’re a bird flying over us and you can see everything, and please, for God’s sake, tell us something that will save us from ourselves. Take a deep breath and tell us your deepest, darkest secret, so we can wipe our brow and know that we’re not alone.” – Alan Watts