It is amazing. Just coincidentally, I was reading a book (author=E-A Vanek) last night for a completely different reason (school-related,) and I read something that reminded me of ego state therapy:"Jungian analysts regard the active imagination as the most powerful tool for exploring the unconscious. Robert Johnson (in Inner Work) describes the power that is released when we consciously take part in the drama of our imaginations: 'the ego actually goes into the inner world, walks, talks, confronts and argues, makes friends and fights with the persons it finds there.... Although it is a symbolic experience, it is still a real experience involving real feelings.'" That reminded me so much of therapy with ego states or parts!

For me, I am an active participant, so they know I am there. I'm not behind a curtain or anything--I'm not in an omniscient observer role. Do you find your parts often don't know you are there?

At my session, T told me what he would have said to this ego state if he had been with her way back when, and I scarcely listened to him! Yada yada. I didn't want to know what he would have said. It didn't seem relevant. What was important was how I felt and how I dealt with those feelings and with my relationship with her. I wasn't interested in the "what if" my T was telling about what he would have said. It was curious.

One thing my T asked me was how I would react to my daughters if they were in a situation similar to what I was in as a young adult. Would I react the same way toward them? "Of course not!" I answered immediately. So I'm being a lot harder on my younger self than I ever would be to my daughters. This may be an angle that will help me with this. I have a lot of experience being a mother to them.

Thank you, rainbow. When T asked me to hug her, and I experienced "not wanting to", I actually thought of you, rainbow, right there in my session! I thought of how your T helps you hold your infant and how you have said you don't always want to do that, or don't want (or feel able to) do it on your own so your T comes with you. I know my situation is different, but for a moment, I felt, hmmm I am feeling like I don't want to hug my younger self, maybe this is a little like what rainbow feels.