🔼: [[💡 Labeling (CBT)]] ###### 🔑 Hold labels loosely Labels for [[💡 Parts|Parts]] are convenient because they help us be specific and keep track of who or what we're talking about, and [[🔑 we cannot help but label things]]. Labels like [[💡 Proactive Protectors|Proactive Protector]], [[💡 Reactive Protectors|Reactive Protector]], [[💡 Exiles|Exile]], "[[🛡️ Criticizing|Inner-Critic]]," "Busy Part," "Lonely Part," “Angry Part,” and so on are useful in the sense that they help us understand and communicate what our [[💡 Parts|Parts]] do and have in common — it’s the only reason the Guide makes these distinctions. Outside of that theoretical learning context, and especially when we’re actually getting to know our [[💡 Parts|Parts]] more intimately, it might be beneficial to drop the labels, or at least hold them lightly. *It’s possible to do an entire [[💡 The IFS Session|IFS session]], with someone who has never done it before, without ever using the word “Part.”* Labels stop being useful, and they might even slow our progress for a few reasons: - [[✍️ On Maps and Models...]] - We may identify them as their label, but[[🔑 Parts are not their burdens, roles, or strategies|🔑 a description is not an identity]]. - If we try to label [[💡 Parts|Parts]] while getting to know them, we may notice things get clunky and muddled. That’s because it’s [[💡 Parts|Parts]] who learn and apply theory — [[🔑 Presence does not need to be taught how to be Presence|🔑 Presence does not need to be taught]]. - We may think we're [[🕯️ Unblending|unblended]], but we may be [[💡 Blending|blended]] with a [[💡 Parts|Part]] who is naming and labeling other Parts. - It's the [[☀️ Connection]], the relationship that actually matters. Whether they're a [[💡 Proactive Protectors|Proactive Protector]], [[💡 Reactive Protectors|Reactive Protector]], or [[💡 Exiles|Exile]] makes no difference. [^1]: