Parts Work
Our Inner Cast
Most of us know that feeling of being torn between two minds (or 54 minds). Like a part of you wants to go out and a part of you wants to stay home. This is a reflection of how your psyche is made up.
Parts Work is a therapy modality and a way of understanding the ourselves in holistic way. Parts work shows us that we are not just one self. we are a collection of different “parts” or sub-personalities, each with its own feelings, memories, beliefs and roles.
It’s like having a cast of characters inside you. Some might be loud and reactive. Others shy and protective. And each one is doing its best to help you survive, feel safe, or be loved—even if it doesn’t always get it right.
Jung’s Influence: Archetypes and the Inner World
Carl Jung, a Swiss psychologist, believed that we all carry universal patterns inside us called archetypes—like the inner child, the mother, the warrior, the wise elder. These are not just myths or symbols; they are living energies within the subconscious that shape how we behave, relate, and dream.
Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
Parts Work is inspired by this idea and helps us bring these unconscious parts into the light. Once we see them clearly, we can heal them. Rather than deflecting and rejecting them we listen to them and integrate them.
Some Common “Parts”
The Inner Critic — Tries to keep you in line by being harsh. Often formed from early criticism or pressure to perform.
The Inner Child — Holds your innocence, joy, and also old wounds from unmet needs.
The Protector — Might look like anger, shutdown, or control. Just wants to keep you safe.
The People-Pleaser — Avoids conflict to stay loved and accepted.
The Rebel — Pushes against rules or conformity, seeking freedom.
Each part developed for a reason and none of them are bad, they're stuck in old roles no longer serving us. .
What Healing Looks Like
Healing happens when you learn to talk to your parts with curiosity instead of judgment.
Instead of thinking:
“Why do I always sabotage myself?!”
Try:
“What part of me feels afraid of success? What scary thing does that part think will happen if I succeeded? What does that part to need to feel safe?”
The work is about inner connection, not creating more inner conflict. When your parts feel heard, they relax. They no longer need to run the show from the shadows.
When you don’t know your parts, they can unconsciously drive your life, your relationships, your choices and your self-worth. But when you get to know them, they are seen, accepted and ultimately integrated which helps you step into a whole new kind of… wholeness! Here you stop fighting yourself, projecting your pain onto others and become your own safe place. The dialogue is meant to be very comforting, like you’d speak to a child or someone else you’d tenderly care about. We turn the love we so freely give to others and place it on ourselves. It’s a curious inquiry of questions and giving the parts what they need to feel safe.
We aren’t fixing we are meeting. We are getting to know our different selves and pour compassion over them. Every part of us has a story and every part of us belongs. Acknowledgment and acceptance is the healing. It truly is love we’ve searched for all along.
