###### 🔑 Our symptoms and illnesses are never our fault[^1][^2] When we talk about the things that can create, contribute to, or worsen symptoms and illnesses we can sometimes notice [[💡 Parts|Parts]] who carry or spread a lot of [[💡 Shame|shame]] and [[🛡️ Blaming|Self-blame]] around it — especially any implication that we or other parts had anything to do with it. That it isn't that something is happening to us, but something we have somehow caused, created, or manifested ourselves. But our symptoms and illnesses are never our fault — no one would choose to suffer unless it meant avoiding more suffering. There's a big difference in saying we want to be sick, are making ourselves sick, or recreating our own sickness and saying there's a small [[💡 Parts|Part]] of us who might be doing this. These parts probably don't realize the impact they're having, and they're certainly quite young. [[🔑 There are no bad Parts]]. > [...] these characteristics are not anybody's conscious decision. They're [[💡 Protector Parts|protective parts]] [...] that came along in childhood in response to the environment. So we're not faulting anybody here, but we're saying that if these characteristics run your life, you have a much higher chance of getting sick. > — [[👤 Gabor Maté]][^3] - Pain and illness are never our fault. - Our inability to feel or experience [[⭐️ Body#Somatic Sensations|Somatic Sensations]] is never our fault. - [[💡 Emotional Dysregulation]] and [[💡 Reactive Protectors#Common Reactive Protector BehaviorsReactive Protector behaviors]] are never our fault. - [[🛡️ Intellectualizing]] is never our fault. - [[🔑 Laziness does not exist]] - [[🔑 Self-Sabotage does not exist]] - [[🔑 Thoughts often come from Parts]] - [[🔑 We are all blameless]] [^1]: [[📖 ✅ IFS Online Circle]] Month 6 - The Body & the Automation Nervous System & Putting it All Together - Month 6 with Richard Schwartz [^2]: [[📖 ✅ IFS Online Circle]] Month 6 - The Body & the Automation Nervous System & Putting it All Together - Why Body? [^3]: [[📖 ✅ Embracing All of You - Compassionate Inquiry Meets Internal Family Systems]] Session Five: Physical Illness and Disease