Subpersonalities: The People Inside Us

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Reading Eugene Smith’s 2019 biography Assagioli in his Own Words (based on a conversation between Assagioli and Eugene Smith just prior to Assagioli’s death in 1974), I took notice of the following statement by Assagioli: This exercise to develop desired qualities can become the focus of a larger program. You can gather together poetry, symbols, music, drama, artwork, photography, dance,’ and biographical excerpts, all evoking or in some personal sense symbolizing serenity, and use them for a total experience. By surrounding yourself with these materials, you can evoke and develop a deep sense of serenity—or of any other quality. You can use all that you find in your environment to foster a sense of serenity through your own creation of a synthesis of experiential forms. It should be added for clarity, that not every trait allocated to a particular subpersonality will necessarily apply to an individual who identifies with that subpersonality.

This exercise has been found most effective if practiced daily, preferably during the first hours of the day. Whenever possible, it is to be done shortly after waking up and considered as a symbolic second awakening. It is also of great value to repeat it in its brief form several times during the day, returning to the state of dis- identified “I” consciousness. Description, context, associations, and amplifications of your night dreams (which are most easily recorded immediately upon waking.)

A Technique To Control Your Dreams Has Been Verified For The First Time

Which different subpersonalities were predominant at different times during this day? What circumstances (inner or outer) made them emerge or withdraw? Were there any conflicts between them? Some of these subpersonalities relate to pathological complexes, but most are self-identifications or self-images that develop consciously or unconsciously in the course of life. This means we have subpersonalities that relate to all the psychological ages we pass through – child, adolescent, young adult, etc. In other words, we have healthy subpersonalities as well as trauma-related subpersonalities. In the use of this exercise, two further mental processes are necessary: discrimination and interpretation We must learn to discriminate between those images which carry true wisdom and those which do not. For example, occasionally a critical and authoritarian figure appears, one who is not truly loving toward you. This can be the projection of a subpersonality or a known person onto the superconscious, and discrimination must be used to recognise it for what it is and “unmask” it. Also, a positive projection onto the superconscious may result in hearing “what you want to”, not what is really being communicated. You can either consider these points during the review exercise itself, or, if this gets in your way, you can think about them at the end of the review. These points are meant to give you a choice of perspective and need not all be covered. The main purpose is to get well acquainted with your subpersonalities. We suggest that particularly at the beginning you keep the exercise fairly simple, and give it no more than 15 minutes a day.

In the worksheet, Making Peace with Your Subpersonalities, you were offered a clear template to achieve harmony and peace within the community of the self. Here is a reminder of the five stages:

Synchronicities – Dance With The Cosmic Flow

Put your body in a comfortable and relaxed position, and slowly take a few deep breaths (preliminary exercises of relaxation can be useful). Then make the following affirmation, slowly and thoughtfully: I have desires but I am not my desires. Desires are aroused by drives, physical and emotional, and by other influences. They are often changeable and contradictory, with alternations of attraction and repulsion; therefore they are not my self. “I have desires, but I am not my desires.” (This is best placed between the emotional and mental stage.) What is very important is that the role of a given part is not its essence, in other words, if, for example, an internal critic slates you for doing something, it is not everything that this part stands for. Your internal critic can also experience other emotions. Moreover, he can affect you in many other ways than this. In my therapeutic work with clients, I have often encountered that their "internal critic" is at some point very critical and demeaning, and when we get to know him better and listen to his fears and needs, he turns out that be an internal advisor. No longer does he need to criticize, but rather supports and gives positive remarks. Examples: “I should be competent – I must get this done well”, “I have to always be selfless and caring”, “I should be the best at this recital – I have to do well”. How To Free Yourself & Find Self Fulfillment Keeping a workbook as a technique of self-development also functions in other ways. It gives us an opportunity to express in a harmless way any powerful and disruptive emotions we may have bottled up inside us. If we can learn to ‘let off steam’ through writing, we will have a useful means of discharging tensions, and of becoming aware of what underlies them. Writing is also a useful exercise for developing the faculties of concentration, attention, and control of the will. It may help a person who is somewhat shy, and reluctant to express himself in a face-to-face setting, to explore certain aspects of himself more freely.

There is much more to our parts than just the role they play. They tend to experience other emotions than just the most visible and predominant ones. When they see there’s a point to it, our parts are open to switching their role - they are often tired of what they do (e.g. the shy part may start to encourage us to go out more and meet new people). Most of the psychotherapy work based on Internal Family Systems theory is run with us having our eyes closed. You enter your inner world and meet the parts, talk to them. Although it may seem absurd or weird to you now, if you experience it yourself, you will see that it is very simple, tangible and real, and that this is in fact exactly how our psyche works. Resolve as much as you can to remain serene through the day… to be a living example of serenity…. to radiate serenity. Such drawings reflect the activity of the unconscious mind and may be of value in self-understanding. Thus, drawing as well as writing can be part of a complete workbook.Alternation, alliances and co-operation. Next comes the phase where we let the subpersonalities experience ‘an alternation of expressions in accordance with internal impulses and external circumstances. Alternation leads to alliances, to co-operation. And from a progressive co-operation we arrive at an organic synthesis’ (Assagioli, p.53). It’s important to remember that the subpersonalities are originally created out of some early anxiety, mixed messages, repeated exposure to negativity, or trauma. They are established at a time when the authentic self has been battered and broken, and a fragmented self emerges out of that misfortune or trauma. Those fragments (subpersonalities) then seek ways to survive. From that point, a protective pose is adopted, and a culture of self-interest is born. As a result, cooperation, and collaboration within the community of the self are now lost. Psychosynthesis Exercises for Personal & Spiritual Growth Compiled and Edited by Thomas Yeomans, Ph.D. The mind, with its billions of neurons, is like a community made from smaller communities. The communities at the highest level (right under the level of wholeness) are something I like to call subpersonalities or inner voices… They are the competing aspects of ourselves, which try to govern the whole.” - Douglas Hofstadter Description: This person isextremelyjudgmentalof themselves. They put themselves down constantly for any flaw, limitation, or failure they perceive in themselves. They fall into the mental trapofoveremphasizing their weaknesses and filtering out their strengths.

It can be best done by a deliberate exercise of dis-identification and self-identification. Through it we gain the freedom and the power of choice to be identified with, or dis-identified from, any aspect of our personality, according to what seems to us most appropriate in each situation. Thus we can learn to master, direct, and utilise all the elements and aspects of our personality, in an inclusive and harmonious synthesis. Therefore this exercise is considered as basic in psychosynthesis. I was initially surprised to learn that Assagioli considered subpersonalities to be a key aspect of psychosynthesis, but, on reflection, I realised they must be because they are a part of the process of synthesis one of the seven core concepts of psychosynthesis. Indeed, subpersonalities are among the various psychological elements that are integrated into and harmonised within the personality as part of the developmental process that Assagioli termed personal psychosynthesis, which is a concept similar to Abraham Maslow’s self-actualisation. Assagioli is referring to the kind of synthesis we find in a healthy body, where the different parts – organs and cells of the body – co-operate intelligently to uphold the health of the whole body.Take time to practice, as preparation, the Dis-identification Exercise (No. 4), using whatever version you have found most helpful. This is a modification of ‘The Evening Review”. It consists of reviewing your day from the point of view of the three main personality aspects: your body, your feelings, and your mind.