When I walk with my 2 dogs in the forest, I get ideas of what to bring forward for you. Today I heard and saw a vision from childhood, and was reminded of a game that we used to play …Remember playing Hide and Seek? Wasn’t it great fun to hide and hope that no one would find your hiding place? I often see a version of this Hide and Seek game playing out in our adult lives.
The parts involved in the Hide and Seek metaphor are actually disconnected, fragmented younger parts of us. These parts have a limited vocabulary and can only speak through the language of the wound. They may speak through the feelings of shame, fear, guilt, abandonment, etc., and typically when they pop up we want to hide them in the shadows ~ but they desperately want to be found. It’s as if these hidden parts want to burst forth, jump out of the closet or out from under the bed or out from behind a curtain. When these parts express through the shadows, we get triggered into fear or denial and don’t want to find these hiding tricksters.
I like to think of all of these hidden parts in a fun way, and invite them to show me what part is hiding emotionally. Let’s have an adventure with these shadow parts and explore why they have needed to stay hidden from us.
Some of my favorite moments are when clients show me younger parts from their past and how they hide through old patterned stories or symptoms. When this happens, I want to lovingly call forth these hidden parts and meet them. From there we can create a safety bridge with adult resources, love and understanding. Typically, once we build this bridge there is an integration period, and life changes and gets clearer and easier.For however long we have been denying these hiding parts of us, it’s important to know that we haven’t been doing it wrong. Let’s be neutral when we find these parts in the shadows. We can even use our childlike curiosity and say, “Peek a Boo … I see You”.
Make friends with these frightened hidden parts that have taken up residency in the stories. Let’s connect these fractured wounded parts.
