Podcast - Ep. 68 - Viewing your inner world differently, the Internal Family Systems Model, with Beth Rogerson, Ph.D

When you think about how you view yourself, your inner world...what comes to mind? Is it compassion, kindness, self-love, and contentment...or do things like, self-criticism, shame, broken, and hopeless come to mind?

For so many. those positive views seem like a pipe dream; something we wish we could do but yet never feel like are achievable because of the past. We see others who exhibit those qualities, or we think that they do, and that leads to even more shame, blame, and resistance to change because "we could never be like that, we're too broken".

How you view yourself, your inner world has a profound influence your life as a whole, and how you see others. Your romantic relationships, your job, friends, even what you do for fun can all be influenced by our view of what we're capable of and what we think we are worthy of trying to achieve.

Beth Rogerson has dedicated her life to helping others see their true inner self with a different lens. A lens that allows you view your inner world differently, giving you opportunities to not become overwhelmed by the emotions that flood your mind and your life on a daily basis.

Beth has a Ph.D. in Counseling and is licensed in the United States as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Counselor, and has completed training with The Center of Self Leadership with Internal Family Systems therapy, and the Gestalt Institute in Cleveland, Ohio. Residing in Stockholm, Sweden,for most of the year, she provides individual and couples counseling services over a video-conferencing service as well as in person.

She's also the creator of her own incredible podcast, The Therapy Spot, which is dedicated to people like you who want to help your Self and live a better, more balanced life. I had the privilege of being on The Therapy Spot podcast in April of 2018, discussing Anxiety and Trauma Recovery.

During her time on Beyond Your Past, Beth and I discuss the Internal Family Systems model, which was developed by Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D (1995), which describes your inner world as being like a family. It's a gentle kinder view of your inside world. A new frontier for you to know your self differently, and connecting kindly with respect toward yourself from the inside out.

The basic idea is that we have a family of parts inside of us as well as an abundance or self energy.

Self is best described in qualities. It has the qualities of Calm Curious Compassionate Clarity Confidence Connection Courageous and Creative. The 8 C’s We all have them within us, but they can get blocked when our parts take over and we feel, act, or react only from a part or parts of ourselves.

Beth sees the Internal Family Systems model of therapy really as a lens we can all have. It is like putting on a new pair of glasses and not even knowing you couldn’t see until you see better. I want others to have this lens. It is not a secret.

The IFS lens of viewing our own personality is that we are multiple in how we think and feel and all these different ways of thinking and feeling are different aspects or parts of ourselves. The nature of our personality is to have different parts with our Self as the leader of our system, however, problems happen when one parts gets to strong or large and hijacks our system and we have a dictator.

We talk more about the Internal Family Systems model and how the IFS approach to personal development teaches you how to cultivate your Self Qualities for greater happiness.The 8 Self qualities are:

Calm
Compassion
Curiosity
Courage
Creativity
Connection
Confidence
Clarity

We cover these 8 qualities, the IFS model, and much more, so be sure and check out the show and also don't forget to subscribe and leave a review!

-Matthew Pappas, CLC

This post and podcast is for informational purposes

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