Betsy Guerra (creator/uploader) explains the psychosynthesis idea that the self is made of many parts. Using an elephant parable, she invites listeners to notice and disidentify from over-identified parts (e.g., overly generous, fiercely dominant) so they can lead from a centered Self and call forth parts as needed. She encourages curiosity about how each part serves or hinders and discourages trying to eliminate parts entirely. Includes a call-to-action to visit betterwithbetsy.com for more.
Chapters
Today we're going to talk about what part of you is really you. I hear my clients all the time saying that they don't want to be who they've been. They want to stop being that version of themselves. They want to burn that and just leave it behind in the past. And I always invite them to consider the possibility of viewing themselves as an elephant. I'm not sure they like it when I bring this analogy up, but hear me out. There's an old tale of blind men who were asked to describe an elephant. And there was one that was positioned in the leg, another one in the trunk, another one in the ear, in the body. And they asked, like, what is an elephant? How is an elephant? And the one by the leg said, oh, an elephant is like a tree trunk. It's, like, round and thick and strong. And then the one in the body was like. An elephant is like a big surface that's rough and, you know, like, it takes up a lot of space. The one in the ear described the ear. The one in the trunk said what the trunk looked like or felt like anyway. And then the question was, are they right? Is that an elephant is the leg of an elephant? The elephant is the trunk of the elephant? The elephant, well, not in its entirety, but it's part of it. And the same is true with us human beings. We have different parts of our personality, of our essence, but they all serve us. You're not gonna run with a trunk, and you're not gonna eat or here with the legs if you're an elephant, are you? But each part of the elephant serves it. Each part of you serves you. So maybe there's a part of you that's bothering you right now because people are taking advantage of you and they're not considering you. And if you stop to reflect on all the characteristics of that particular part of you, you may see that that's the version of you that's very generous and giving and kind and vulnerable. All really good things, if you ask me. They're really good qualities, but maybe in a context where it doesn't serve you, it may hurt to be that way. So there's two sides to every part. There's the side that serves and supports you, and there's a side that may get in. In your own way. If you think of a part of a person who seems to be very fierce and dominant and, you know, like, go getter and takes action and always has an opinion, you may think, like, oh, my gosh, I want to. I don't want to. Deal with that person or if you are that way. You may think, I want to be more docile and I want to be like, I don't want to be like that because it gets in the way of my marriage, for example. Well, yes. And that part also allows you to be an excellent leader, an entrepreneur. Take action, make decisions, you know, like, know what you stand for. So we all have different parts that we tend to identify with. And in psychosynthesis, that's called identification. You think you are that I am, I am too generous and too kind. But that's just a part of you. And my invitation is that you consider all these parts of you and you get curious. How are they serving you? Are they coming to support you, to serve you? What are they trying to do for you? And then once you become aware of what those different parts of you are and how they support and don't support you, then you can decide that you're going to disidentify from them. You're going to choose to lead from center. You're going to remember that you were a spirit created to God's image and likeness, and that you're a lot more than all those parts. And from center, you can call forth the different parts of you whenever you choose to bring them up. So in a leadership position, bring up the fears part of you in a moment of consideration, of empathy, bring forth the generous, kind, compassionate part of you. They all serve you, but don't try to eliminate them. Don't try to leave them in the past and burn them down and be a totally different person because you may need them. I hope this helps and supports you in gaining a different perspective on that part of you that you have been shaming and just embracing it and remembering that there is a gift in everything that you stand for. If you would like to learn more about psychosynthesis or do some of this work, you're welcome to visit betterwithbetsy.com Sam.
