🕯️ What Is a Burden in IFS?

In IFS, a burden is not a flaw — it’s the weight a part carries that doesn’t belong to its true nature. Burdens form when pain, shame, fear, or beliefs become fused to a part so tightly it forgets who it really is.

A burden might sound like “I’m not good enough,” “It’s all my fault,” or “I can never relax.” It might feel like tension in the body, a flood of emotion, or a quiet voice of self-hatred.

IFS doesn’t try to erase burdens through willpower or logic. Instead, it helps Self witness the stories and sensations they carry. When a part finally feels seen and safe, it can release what it’s held — sometimes into light, water, fire, or air — symbols of renewal.

There are many kinds of burdens: those born from trauma, those inherited from family or culture, even those absorbed from collective pain. But every release begins the same way — not with force, but with understanding.

Because no part is the burden. It’s the one who’s carried it with devotion.