December 5th, 2007 |
When I began training in Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) several years ago, my whole life became a healing story. It is difficult to even know how to begin or focus in the attempt to tell it. I was drawn to the model after reading Dick’s textbook in graduate school. It stirred my heart. It just felt right to me. And now I know why!
Not long after beginning the training, I started to have difficulties being there without exiles crawling out of the woodwork. I knew I was a woman with a history of what I called... Read More
November 1st, 2007 |
My story is the story of Ana. Ana was my closest companion for almost sixteen years. The name “Anna,” as it is usually spelled, means “gracious,” but Ana certainly did not seem very gracious at times. Ana is a shortened form of Anorexia, the name I gave my eating disorder. In that one word lies the summation of the last sixteen years of my life.
Some years were worse than others, the earlier ones being the most severe. But Ana was always there, sometimes acting as a lifeline, sometimes as an archenemy. She challenged the Self for my very soul.
Ana was always there, but despite her... Read More
October 6th, 2007 |
Once upon a time there was a wonderful little girl, sensitive, intelligent, gifted. She was so sensitive that it was easy for her to see words that weren’t spoken. Words that other people did not speak swirled through the air but ended up inside of her.
When she was not very old, and couldn’t even describe it with words, she noticed that there was a shadow on her father.
When she grew old enough to express the feelings (though only in her own quiet little mind), these were her words: “I am not sure that my father loves me. Sometimes he seems to love me. But I’m not sure that he REALLY... Read More
