The Mind, Its Parts and the True Self
One powerful way we can work with our different parts in hypnotherapy is through something I call The Yellow Bus Technique.
In hypnosis, we begin by identifying some of the different parts within you and understanding the roles they have been playing. We can then:
- Heal and reassure younger child parts that may have become frightened, hurt or traumatised by experiences earlier in life, helping them feel safe, loved and supported.
- Update the roles of protective parts — some jobs may no longer be needed, while others simply need a new job specification that is more appropriate for your life today.
- Bring conflicting parts together, helping them communicate and work as a team rather than pulling you in different directions.
- Allow the True Self to lead, with the other parts supporting rather than competing for control.
Once this work has been done, we imagine everyone getting onto the Yellow Bus. This time, your True Self is in the driving seat, and your different parts are aligned and travelling together towards the same destination.
In hypnosis, we explore what that destination truly is for you — where do you really want your life to go?
Rather than allowing fear to choose the direction, we begin to listen to the deeper guidance of the heart and True Self. What brings you joy? What do you love? Where do you experience peace, meaning and bliss?
Joy, peace and bliss become lights along the road, helping to guide you towards a life that feels genuinely aligned with who you are.
And perhaps most importantly, it’s not simply about reaching the destination.
It’s about learning to enjoy the journey.
We often think of the mind as one single, unified whole.
But hypnotherapists & psychotherapists, now know this not to be the case.
The mind appears to contain many different parts, each with its own role, personality, beliefs and ways of trying to help us. And beneath all of these parts is something deeper — what we might call our True Self. Start Hypnosis
The True Self (TS)
As the soul comes into this life, enters the womb and begins to meld with the developing human brain, we begin as this beautiful being — our TS.
The True Self is naturally loving, understanding, fearless, playful, creative and curious. It lives naturally in the present moment, in the now.
Then life begins to happen.
Something frightening happens. Someone becomes angry with us, or tells us, “No,” “Stop that,” or “You mustn’t do that.” We become frightened or upset, and a fearful part begins to form.
You could imagine this as a little ‘part’ breaking away from the True Self and becoming part of what we might call the egoic mind, or the false self, as Eckhart Tolle describes it.
Then another part may appear to protect that frightened part. Perhaps this new part decides:
“I’m going to make sure we do everything correctly from now on, so that we never get into trouble again.”
And so, a Manager part develops.
Over time, more parts emerge. What matters is understanding that our mind contains many different parts, and each of them developed for a reason.
No Bad Parts
As we move through life, we develop a whole collection of parts designed to help us navigate the world and, importantly, to prevent the fearful and vulnerable parts of us from becoming overwhelmed.
There are ‘No Bad Parts’…as Richard Scwartz asserts in his books & training on this subject.
We might have a Hero who tries to be the good boy or good girl, gets everything right, works hard and wants everyone to be pleased with us.
We might have a Manager who organises everything, makes sure we are on time, remembers what needs to be done and knows how we are supposed to behave around other people.
Then there might be a Rebel who occasionally gets sick and tired of following all the rules and says, “Right, sod you lot!” before spending the entire day playing computer games, eating ice cream or refusing to do what everyone expects.
And perhaps there is a Wild One or a Warrior who says, “Fuck it. Let’s get drunk. Let’s be naughty. Let’s break the rules.”
There may be many more — estimates between 10-50 parts.
The people pleaser, the perfectionist, the diplomat, the critic, the rescuer, the controller, the wounder child, the wonder child, the worrier, the entertainer, the protector. Different people develop different parts according to what they have experienced in life. Beyond Training Course
The Mind Is Not Just One
So rather than thinking of the mind as one single thing, we can begin to recognise that we have many different parts, and these parts are fluid and interconnected.
Our parts can talk to us almost as though they are speaking from somewhere in the background. At other times, a part can blend or merge with us so completely that it almost pushes us out of the driving seat.
When this happens, we don’t simply have the Wild One — for a while, we become the Wild One.
We don’t simply have an anxious part — we feel as though we are anxious.
We don’t simply have a Manager — we believe we are the Manager who must organise and control everything.
And this is where we can begin to lose sight of who we truly are.
Remembering Who Is in the Driving Seat
The TS is the deeper aspect of us that emerges when we are calm, centred and present. It is the being we came into this life as, before all the protective strategies, fears and roles began to accumulate.
As we go through life, however, our protective parts can become so dominant that we begin to believe they are who we are. We may believe we are the Hero, the Manager, the Rebel, the Wild One or the fearful child.
Meanwhile, the TS can gradually become pushed into the background.
Some of our protective parts may even come to believe that the TS cannot be trusted. They may see it as not strong enough, not old enough or not brave enough to cope with a difficult and frightening world.
And so, they take over.
The egoic mind often sees the world through the lens of fear, danger and threat. Its parts are constantly trying to predict what might happen, prevent us from being hurt and keep everything under control.
The TS is different.
The TS is loving, compassionate, creative, playful, courageous and present. It does not need to control every moment because it is able to meet life as it unfolds. The TS flows through life effortlessly!
The work, therefore, is not about getting rid of our parts. Our parts developed for a reason, and almost always they have been trying, in their own way, to protect us.
Instead, we can learn to recognise them, understand them and listen to them without automatically becoming them.
Working With Our Parts
This is where hypnotherapy, psychotherapy and parts work can become incredibly powerful.
Once we understand that these different parts exist, we can begin to communicate and negotiate with them rather than fight against them.
We can help a part understand that life has changed and that the job it took on many years ago may no longer be necessary in quite the same way. We can update a part, negotiate a new role and even give it a new job specification — one that is more appropriate for who we are and the life we are living today.
We also let the parts that the TS is no longer a child & can now be trusted to run the show safely & effectively…with their loving support, of course!
This is something I have also used hypnotherapy to work with within myself — helping my different parts become aligned and allowing my True Self to take the lead.
And ultimately, that is what we are working towards. Aligning & updating the parts & letting the TS lead.
It is like establishing a clear direction for the whole system. Instead of one part wanting to go left, another wanting to go right and another slamming on the brakes, we begin to develop a shared agenda and a clearer path forward.
When our parts begin to trust the True Self and work together, there is less internal conflict and less energy spent fighting against ourselves.
And when we become more aligned in this way, life can begin to feel more effortless, natural and joyful. We are no longer constantly battling ourselves or being pulled in different directions. There can be a greater sense of flow, freedom and fun.
This is why understanding this model is important. We first learn to recognise our parts; understand why they developed and appreciate what they have been trying to do for us.
Then we can begin working with them.
We can update them. We can negotiate with them. We can give them new roles. We can help them work together.
And gradually, we can allow our True Self to return to the driving seat — not by fighting the other parts, but by earning their trust and allowing the whole system to move forward together. Beyond Training
