IFS aims to develop secure inner attachments between a resource called Self and parts, or subpersonalities.

Self displays curiosity, calm, clarity, connectedness, confidence, courage, creativity, and compassion.

Neuroscience tells us that a balanced brain supports those same qualities.

Co-authored with Sarah Bergenfield

Do you ever suddenly become calmer, more curious, and more compassionate, not because your problems disappeared but because something shifted inside? From the perspective of Internal Family Systems (IFS), you're experiencing a distinct state of consciousness called Self. IFS is all about engaging this kind of consciousness in the context of the idea that the mind is plural: We all have parts (as in, one part of me wants to go for a walk, but another wants to take a nap).

If you wonder what parts are, we can’t tell you. We can only describe the experience. They are individuals, each with their own developmental age, experiences, and perspective. They live in a community and share the ultimate goals of survival and safety. Self, on the other hand, is not a part. It’s more like a compass for the inner community of parts. Most people grasp Self best experientially, but sometimes we need words to introduce and explain the concept. When this need arises, IFS practitioners tend to reach for metaphors that hail from physics and spiritual traditions. While these serve well for some people, they’re too abstract for others.

So, here's another option. Neuroscience tells us that the brain builds a predictive model of the world beginning in childhood and then experiences what it predicts, registering prediction errors throughout life to update its model. In the process, it must decide which........

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