When Parts Hate the Workbook: Using IFS for Resistance on an ACIM Path
- Everything IFS
- Nov 9
- 2 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Every Course student knows the moment. You sit down to do the lesson, open to a page of shining truth, and
something inside rolls its eyes.
Another part groans that you’ve already failed at being spiritual today.
Another reaches for your phone.
Then comes the guilt—how can I believe in Love itself and still not want to read about it?
This is where Internal Family Systems becomes a quiet miracle.
Meeting the Resistant Parts
When we approach our spiritual practice, the ego doesn’t always appear as grand rebellion; it shows up as parts doing their jobs.
The skeptic — eye-rolling, unimpressed, muttering that none of this works in real life.
The perfectionist — desperate to do the workbook “right,” then ashamed when the mind wanders.
The exhausted overachiever — burned out from trying to be holy enough.
The angry inner teenager — furious that forgiveness feels like letting people off the hook.
These parts are not enemies of the Course. They are protectors of your heart. Each one believes it is saving you from something—disappointment, failure, shame, naïve hope.
The IFS Move: Unblend and Be Curious
When resistance shows up, most of us either fight it or collapse into it. IFS offers a third way: step back into Self-energy and simply notice.
You might pause and ask, Who in me doesn’t want to do this lesson right now? Then wait.
A sensation, voice, or image will appear. You meet it like you would meet a child—curious, kind, not demanding change.
Let it speak.
What is it afraid would happen if you truly opened to this practice? What does it need from you today?
In that space of compassionate listening, the part relaxes. You realize it’s not against you; it’s for your safety.
Turning Resistance into a Forgiveness Classroom
The Course says that every upset is a call for love. Resistance counts.
When a part resists, it gives you a live opportunity to practice what the workbook preaches—without forcing positivity or pretending the resistance isn’t there.
You can say internally:
I see you, the one who doesn’t want to forgive right now. You don’t have to disappear. Let’s look at this together.
That inner stance is forgiveness in motion. You’re bringing illusion to truth—not by lecturing the part, but by loving it.
Over time, the workbook stops feeling like homework. It becomes a meeting place. Some days, the meeting is peaceful; other days, it’s messy and real. Both are holy.
A Few Gentle Questions to Keep Handy
What part of me is struggling with this lesson today?
What is it protecting me from?
How can I show this part that I won’t use the Course to shame or silence it?
If Love could speak to this part directly, what might it say?
These simple questions keep you anchored in compassion rather than performance.
The Deeper Truth
Resistance is not proof that you’re failing at spirituality; it’s proof that healing is happening. The parts you meet in those moments are the very ones that need to know they are included in Love’s classroom.
By welcoming them instead of judging them, you turn the moment you most want to quit into the doorway back to peace.
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