And for me, these emotions, sensations, thoughts, impulses, and other things are emanations from parts—they are what we call trailheads.

In the fundamentally interconnected and interdependent planetary system we participate in, the best way to care for oneself and those closest to oneself is to start caring more for the benefit of the collective (all life).

If we can appreciate and have compassion for our parts, even for the ones we’ve considered to be enemies, we can do the same for people who resemble them. On the other hand, if we hate or disdain our parts, we’ll do the same with anyone who reminds us of them.

Systems thinking focuses on the ways members of a system relate to one another.

multiplicity has been pathologized in our culture.

So I started trying to help my clients listen to their troublesome parts rather than fight them, and was astounded to find that their parts all had similar stories to tell of how they had to take on protective roles at some point in the person’s past—often roles that they hated but felt were needed to save the client.

For us to live in this culture and not see the suffering of its exiles or feel the outrage of what we are doing to the Earth, we need distractions. We are provided with a plethora of firefighter activities to help us numb the pain of this moral injury. Remember, Self sees, feels, and acts to change injustice, so to not do any of that we need

Studies show, for example, that lower-income people become empowered and productive once they are given enough money to cover their basic survival needs.4

to mistake the burden for the part that carries it.