Identity is Hidden by Trauma

Internal Family Systems Therapy often likes to include wisdom that we often associated with religion, philosophy, and spirituality, and it can sound like this quote from Richard Schwartz in his book No Bad Parts, “We are here to learn a particular set of life lessons, and the lesson plan is already within us. Each of us carries legacy burdens inherited from our families and cultures, and each of us also accrues plenty of personal burdens along the way. So our lesson plan begins with unloading those burdens, and that sets the stage for the most important lesson of all - finding out who we really are.” I wanted to share this tidbit of perspective to share how that frequent goal of wanting to “find myself”, “know who I am”, and likewise sentiments usually involves having to dive deeper, and actually addressing long-held pains.

“We are here to learn a particular set of life lessons, and the lesson plan is already within us. Each of us carries legacy burdens inherited from our families and cultures, and each of us also accrues plenty of personal burdens along the way. So our lesson plan begins with unloading those burdens, and that sets the stage for the most important lesson of all - finding out who we really are.”

~ No Bad Parts, by Richard Schwartz