States of consciousness from a therapeutic perspective - Part 1 - Overview
When entering therapy we start to shine the light of our mindfulness on what is happening in all dimensions of our life. That light is likely to shine on unknown territory and make new discoveries in our consciousness we were not previously aware of. We can liken our mind to an iceberg....what we are conscious of is the tip of the iceberg and the unconscious lies submerged out of sight under the water. It is helpful to have a map to know what we are looking at when these submerged parts of our mind start to come into view.
The following map is from a psychological therapy perspective. However, the map is not the territory. For example, a geological map can tell us we are in Brisbane (my home city), however, a map can never point out what anyone’s experience of being in Brisbane will be. For everyone it will be different as we are all unique individuals travelling our own journey even if we are in the same geographical place together!
Consciousness is a continuum and in reality it is not divided up into segments that I am placing them in here. If we have a cloudy and rainy day, the sun is always shining behind the clouds and the sky can hold any sort of weather. However, in my experience, it is extremely useful to know the weather so we can take an umbrella or extra sunscreen! If we know the map then we can plan for where we are going.
Thankfully many types of psychological therapy now incorporate methods to navigate the territory of states of consciousness. I acknowledge my training in Hakomi as a foundation for working with “parts” and incorporating Internal Family Systems. My trauma training ongoing has shown me how dissociation and fragmentation can be healed by understanding different states and unresolved past trauma memories. I also draw on the work of Dr Margaret Paul’s Inner Bonding and the Ancient Hawaiian Healing technique “Self Identity through Ho’oponopono”. I am grateful to all my teachers that have taught me about the territory of different Inner States of Consciousness.
I find it useful to think of consciousness in layers moving from fully aware and present to being unconscious. This is like the iceberg analogy I already mentioned. What we are conscious and aware of is the part of the iceberg above the water. The unconscious mind is like the part of the iceberg under the water that we are not aware of.
Then there are also layers of different experience that indicate different “parts” of ourselves. For self-healing purposes it is useful to categorise these experiences into somewhat anthropomorphic characters such as the Inner Child, Inner Parent & Higher Self, which can in turn each have many subcategories.
I find it useful to always remind myself and others that this is a compassionate map so we can better understand our selves and each other. All of us humans on this Earth have this same basic map of psychological states. We are all in this together …. And, as Ram Dass says, “we are all just walking each other home” .
Here is a basic map that includes the parts of the brain as well. To learn more about the different parts of the brain that I mention, please see this Youtube clip by Dr Dan Siegal introducing the "Hand model of the brain" (8 min & 15 sec long)
Inner Child.
We don’t actually have a little child inside of us! The Inner child represents the part of us that is like a child and this we all have. A child is an emotional being and has a lot of normal basic needs. This is represented by the" Limbic/Mammalian" part of the brain. This part of the brain is responsible for all non-verbal, emotional and relational experiences. It also contains unresolved traumatic memory. Often the inner child is mostly unconscious in Adults. I see the inner child represented physically as the parts of the body below the diaphragm.
As an Adult, if we are in tune with our feelings and needs then self care is natural and easy. If we have had disruption to learning healthy self care in the past then we may need to work on becoming aware of these needs. The inner child/Limbic Brain holds the unresolved painful memories so it becomes a focal part of recovering our mental health.
Inner Mother/Father/Parent
This is the part of ourselves that is usually more conscious and aware. This is the part of us that takes care of daily normal life things such as learning, getting things done, reasoning, working, paying bills, looking after ourselves and others etc. This is represented by the Cortex part of the brain that is capable of awareness, reasoning and the ability to make choices. In our body, I see this physically as everything above the diaphragm.
This part of us is grounded in the present moment. When we change habits, it is helpful and necessary to be grounded in the present. Mindfulness is a wonderful way to bring our grounded and present adult online. More about mindfulness in my blog here.
Sometimes, when we have had unhealed trauma then there can be a lot more “noise” in the nervous system that makes it seem difficult to be grounded in the present moment… this is absolutely normal and there is nothing inherently wrong with us if this is happening. In fact, there is something very right, telling us that something needs our attention and care. To help us to become present we may need to work with a qualified trauma therapist to safely learn how to do this.
Higher Self
The Higher Self is the part of us that contains the qualities of the 8 C’s and is a core part of all of us. I believe we all have, and can access, the qualities in our mind that correlate with the 8 C’s: Compassionate, Caring, Curious, Calm, Clear, Creative, Courageous, Confident & Connected. The 8 C’s are named that by Richard Swartz in his Internal Family systems therapy. Part of the healing journey is uncovering and learning to appreciate our C qualities.
When all three main parts of consciousness/brain are more cohesive, then we have less internal dis-ease and feel more harmony between the parts of ourself. I will expand on these parts further in future blogs….
If any part of this writing has triggered some discomfort, I have resources here which include Australian Emergency resources.