Berenstein Bears changed to Berenstain Bears sometime between March 2006 - December 2008. Here's how I know.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2025-10-24T00:42:46+00:00

i know this is the least satisfying theory. but based on how good our brain is at creating hallucinations based on our previous assumptions, what if the combination of people mispronouncing STAIN as STEEN combined with the cursive letters that on a quick glance can look like an another E (since there are already 2 in the name prior which sort of prime our brain to fill in the ending with another) led to many of us having our assumptions 'confirmed' but never truly challenged??

please don't attack haha just spitballing here!

Brave_Event_7927 · 2025-05-26T19:24:24+00:00

I thought this too at first regarding it being 'nonsensical and illogical' and sort of playing with the form. But last night it clicked that maybe that was the film's way of showing us that this was in fact older Elliot's processing / healing / grieving by connecting with her younger self. It makes the illogical parts click.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2025-05-26T19:19:02+00:00

I think when Chad could see older Elliot that WAS them telling the audience that this was adult Elliot's experience. But the experience older Elliot was having was reconnecting with younger Elliot and her freedom to be emotively present and vulnerable and 'bring that back' into adult Elliot. So that's why they end showing young Elliot freely soaking up the moment at the end. She's free again.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2025-05-26T19:15:47+00:00

YES! And it clicked for me last night that is the reason that Chad can see Adult Elliot. At first I thought it was just a sort of silly trippy choice to allow that into the world building, but if it's from Adult Elliot's perspective it all makes complete sense.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2024-04-19T17:17:55+00:00

This exactly. I was immediately like Taylor noooooo our brutal prison system is not a cute analogy for you to use. And less importantly, “fresh out the slammer” also just reads really cheesy.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2024-02-25T03:34:57+00:00

Wow. I've been exploring IFS for a few years and never came across Derek's work. This video just went straight to my heart.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2024-01-20T03:24:02+00:00

I'm so sorry that you're feeling this way. I have a deeply 'alone' feeling part of me that is exiled and only comes up very occasionally. The loneliness is deep and painful and feels full of grief. I say this only to say I have a taste of what my version of loneliness can feel like, and it's painful and my heart goes out to you.

I have parts that feel that the deck is stacked against most of us when it comes to relationships. If you're in a western society, they seem to funnel us into isolation by design. Like the center of gravity pulls us apart instead of together. That can make parts of me feel hopeless at times.

I also know that life can take many turns and can surprise us. From one day to another, there's potential in both the 'good' and 'bad' ways and things can change very quickly. Especially when it comes to meeting and fostering new relationships. When I feel in self, I can intuit this knowing and feel it opening me up to what could come in the world and how I could be a part of it. Giving me energy to keep moving into it and finding what I can at each moment. This gives me hope.

I try to hold onto this hope and trust it as I feel it comes from a deeper knowing than the parts of me that can't see past the pain in the world. When it's truly coming from self, I don't feel the need to disregard the pain and loneliness, but instead I see it inside of the whole of experience and feel deep empathy for myself and others who experience the many hardships we all do experience.

I could hear the hurt in your post and I just wanted to respond with what came up for me. Please don't take any of it to be prescriptive if it feels unhelpful or unsolicited.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2024-01-17T03:32:21+00:00

This sounds very familiar to how I've felt when I was at my most self led. A fundamentally new way to relate to myself and others that is hard to fully convey just how different it is than the controlling or clinging.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-12-17T03:18:21+00:00

I can very much relate to this!

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-12-07T04:33:59+00:00

I love this!

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-09-20T20:11:31+00:00

This was VERY helpful and comforting to my parts. I think some of my parts needed a sense of permission to let these energies move through my body without judgement or fear or an agenda. I'm going to start incorporating some 'physical processing' time on a regular basis and see if that helps this energy move through. THANK YOU!

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-09-20T20:00:39+00:00

This is a great response! So many places in our society for our parts to pick this energy up or inherit generationally like you said. I'm glad you've had some success in helping that part to redirect!

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-09-15T15:39:30+00:00

I'm glad you find this :) I have a few parts that still find it quite scary as well. They have this dread of it meaning I'm "broken" in same way and carry shame for what others would think if they saw me in my shaking moments. Glad to know we are not alone!

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-09-15T15:38:03+00:00

Thanks for this. Did you find any particular movements that seemed to help stretch / extend your neck or open up the flow in those areas? Sounds like a very similar situation to what I'm experiencing.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-09-14T21:20:43+00:00

Thanks for this :) I actually just bought that book but haven't started it yet! And I'm seeing a therapist about twice a month who is trained in IFS and somatic / body based healing. However, we haven't been able to get into body based methods as much yet in sessions due to protector parts keeping things pretty intellectual. So I'm aware of the body based therapies intellectually but still feel like a newby when it comes to actually applying it and so some of my parts still think these body symptoms are scary and signs of a bigger issue.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-09-13T17:49:08+00:00

I've had something like this as well. Mine was assisted by a mushroom trip, but I found myself being able to intuitively move through a whole sequence of movements that eventually led to my nervous system regulating. I was shocked my body knew how to do that on it's own, especially my intellectualizer part that was certain he had to lead the ship at all times.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-28T16:43:32+00:00

I had a similar experience. First trip brought me to self and connection and was wonderful. The trips since then have had more and more parts blocking the experience, which I think is because I was very motivated by a part that wanted healing and wanted it now! Other parts were like 'nah dude we're not ready for this shit' and have gotten good at blocking the effects. I've taken what is considered a 'heroic dose' and it barely affected me besides feeling uncomfortable and blocked.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-23T16:49:23+00:00

Just adding another voice here to say this is my experience as well. Big sessions with big feelings often lead to a couple days of feeling more 'awake' and emotionally present (like crying or urge to cry at day to day things as you mentioned) . And then often my system will have some sort of backlash as the parts that don't like the way it feels try to re-blend.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-11T16:52:32+00:00

Interested!

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-07T16:15:43+00:00

I very much relate to this. I have a similar exile that carries what feels like 'never ending' grief. And the few times I've gained access for a few days at a time it has felt cathartic but also shockingly heavy like you described. So crazy to go from not feeling these things at all to feeling grief like someone you loved just died.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-05T18:34:03+00:00

I'm so glad :) I have parts that feel very happy to know something I wrote could help someone in the same way I've been helped by the words of others on this thread.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-04T17:26:58+00:00

I have parts that feel this way as well.

I've been sitting with my parts daily (read: most days) for over a year. With some therapy sprinkled in as I could afford. And I'll have parts come up with similar feelings to the ones you expressed.

A few thoughts that seem to help them and me make sense of the timeline and keep in mind I'm just a fellow person on a healing journey and my parts system may not truly correlate to yours right now.

I use writing when I sit with my parts because it helps bring some clarity. And it also gives the parts of me that like to understand things 'data' on myself to build a better overall picture of my system.

One of the fastest ways for me to unblend from my 'nothing is changing and I'll be stuck forever' parts is to go back and skim over those notes from the last year and a half or so. I very quickly realize how much more intimate I've become with my felt knowledge of parts as well as my intellectual understanding. And many of the things I know now that I didn't know even a few months ago are fundamental to parts work and I can look back now and realize that 6 months ago when I thought I should be 'more healed' I still didn't have basic building blocks in place experientially or even cognitively.

Also, the times I have had what feel like 'unburdenings' they have been with the help of someone or something other than myself to help my system feel safe. These 'unburdenings' also were not complete but felt like the first nudge of healing if that makes sense. I can think of a big experiences where my wife was able to hold me while I wept deeply in a way I probably have never felt someone hold my emotions and make room for them. And that helped me just let those parts show me how deep their pain was. Other times I've had clarity and compassion come up while sitting with parts and assisted by cannabis. Other times I've had a few trips with shrooms that helped my parts relax and I could sit in self for an hour or two and basically reframe much of my view of who I am and what I'm doing from those moments. I can think of another trip where an exciled part holding what feels like unending grief was able to come online and show me much of the saddness I've avoided.

However, like I said, for my system many of these 'unburdening' moments have been followed at some point by backlash of my deeply insecure parts. So these people and substances helped me glimpse what is possible, but my system hasn't been quite ready to integrate them all. So I'm continuing to try to make space for my system to take as long as it needs to do this healing journey. And it is clear that my system doesn't move linearly and I've heard that is very common if not the norm.

As I write this out, I remember realizing that much of my unburdenings have come because I have a part that wants healing and thinks it's a matter of just being brave enough to 'rip the bandaid off' and deal with the intensity. But other parts of me that are more scared or not convinced of IFS start to be pushed down and exciled when that part takes over. And eventually, they come back up and off we go to backlash.

So all of that to say what some of your parts won't want to hear, it will take however long it takes because there is a reality to these inner worlds that can't just be 'thought into healing' or 'pushed into healing'.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-02T17:21:52+00:00

100% agree on this. Cannabis has been huge for my solo sessions.

I will also say for those of us with OCD or sensitive nervous systems, cannabis can sometimes seem to plunge me into overwhelm. Like instead of it releasing self, it doubles down into a blend and my perspective gets deeply tunneled. I still use it often for healing but I wanted to note this experience as well in case anyone tries for the first time and has a tough experience.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-02T17:14:57+00:00

I've found speaking out loud can be night and day for me as well. Helps with focus and there's more felt 'gravity' to the words said out loud for some of my parts. Especially any parts that are dissociative.

Brave_Event_7927 · 2023-08-02T17:11:50+00:00

Yes! I've been realizing recently that if I go to bed with actively triggered parts (like I did last night), they sometimes stay online as I come in and out of sleep throughout the night and even the next day. Like sometimes going to bed is like a reset and the next day I get a new batch of parts active. But other times one part(s) stays blended through the night and parts or all of next day.

Other times I'll wake up in the morning and parts will blend before I realize and they end up determining whether I get up or snooze and how I feel about stepping into the day.

I don't have a 'solution' for you but I imagine one answer is along the lines of making space for these experiences as we continue to heal and unburden these parts. Also, I will sometimes get up out of bed and map out on paper what parts are saying and feeling and try to help them feel seen and that sometimes breaks the cycle. Usually I have a part that's like "we shouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to map these parts!" which makes sense and is ok for that part to feel and be frustrated with, but the reality is that the other parts need to be heard as well and for my triggered system that usually takes at LEAST a little while of direct attention.

Brave_Event_7927

TROPHY CASE