Seasons Transition, As Do We!

By Lily Sahaguian, LPC

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – is it not? A lighter climate, blue skies with puffy white clouds, the sound of birds singing, and nature blossoming before your eyes. Spring – a transition season – gives us a chance to declutter physical and digital spaces, opt to head outside, and witness nature transform. 

Some of us may notice the healing effects transition periods and external environments have to offer – but what about what our internal state has to offer? Can springtime also give us a chance to tune our attention inward, notice the parts of us that are transforming, and bear witness to the healing effects that lie within us?

In his book No Bad Parts, Dr. Richard Schwartz discusses aspects of healing and transformation with an Internal Family Systems (IFS) lens. As the creator of IFS – a therapeutic model that de-pathologizes the various parts of the human system – Schwartz offers a new lens of turning our focus inward and relating to ourselves in a way that leads us closer to wholeness. 

“What do we mean by healing and transformation in IFS? When you understand that you are not sick or defective and instead see that you merely have a part playing an extreme role, you’ll feel relieved and comforted … when you understand that parts are thrust into given roles and they long to be released from them – once they are free, they transform.”

With Spring’s transformations blossoming in full view, let’s allow the transformations taking place in our internal world to blossom as well. Are there parts of us that are craving neutrality and newness as we evolve and transition seasons?  Schwartz’s lens of deep self compassion continues to capture my curiosity as I move along my own personal journey of not only learning how to relate to myself, but how I can better relate to others.