Focusing Tip #843 – Understanding Feelings – “How do I know if it’s a part or a felt sense?”

Do you need to know if what you feel is a part, or a felt sense? Read on…

Renan writes:

I know that felt sense and parts are not the same, and even a part can have a felt sense, but I find it difficult to understand, and to figure out if I need to approach parts and felt senses differently. It gives me anxiety! I start to feel something and right away I ask: “Is this a part or is this a felt sense?”

Dear Renan:

You’re right that parts and felt senses are not the same, and that the difference is interesting!

When a body feeling comes from a part, it’s usually the same feeling over and over. The way I would get a clenching in my stomach whenever I had to fly in an airplane.

About a part, you can say “something in me feels…” and you can start to sense its emotion and its point of view.

I could say “something in me hates to fly and it is really scared.”

You can relate to a part, as in “I’m saying to it that I really get how scared it is.” And so on.

A felt sense isn’t repetitive. It’s a sense that has just arrived now, and it’s hard to describe, because it’s not quite like anything you’ve ever felt. It doesn’t have emotions or a point of view. It’s “the whole way this feels right now.”

But when you are first aware of something in your body, you might not know whether it’s a felt sense or a part. And that’s OK, because when you first feel something, the initial moves are the same either way.

Whether it’s a part or a felt sense, you start by feeling it, allowing it to be as it is, and describing it. Then you can sense how it needs you to be with it. And from there, the process itself will lead the way.