“This is a brief meditation that I do a version of each day, as do many people who follow the IFS path. I encourage you to try it out as a daily practice. Get comfortable and, if it helps, take deep breaths. Then start by focusing on and checking in with whatever parts you are actively working with. To do that, see if you can find each of them in or around your body and get curious about how they’re doing. That is, ask each if there’s anything it wants you to know or if it needs anything—like you might with a child that’s in your care. As you’re getting to know it, at some point help it get to know you better—the you that’s with it now—since most of the time these parts don’t really know you. Instead, they’ve been interacting with other parts in there and they often believe that you are still a young child. Often this is their first encounter with you—the you who’s curious about them and cares about them. So let them know who you are, even how old you are, since they often think you’re much younger. Let them know that they’re not alone anymore and see how they react. You can ask, if you like, how old they thought you were. You can even ask them to turn around and look at you.”