Your Parts Have Taken Blood Vows to Protect You

Last week I talked about how to start talking with the parts of yourself who have taken blood vows to protect you, whatever it takes. “Whatever it takes” for these parts is harsh criticism, loud voices, shaming words; the parts are desperate to protect you and will use every tool they have, no matter how cruel. After all, your safety (the way your protector parts interpret it, anyway), is paramount.

The parts are doing their best to protect you

These parts say things like what I spoke about last week: “Art is a luxury,” “No one buys photographs,” “I can’t handle money,” etc. You can identify the blood vow parts of you by thinking about being more visible with your creativity. If you hear excuses like these, or “I don’t have time right now,” or other reasons that sound reasonable but actually aren’t, one of your parts has sprung into protection mode.

One of the numerous benefits of making friends with your own parts is beginning to see protectors operating in others’ lives. In fact, the better you get at recognizing your own protectors and their defensive, angry, strident voices, you can begin seeing other people’s protectors operating too. Not only artists and creatives have these protector parts.

Everyone has these protector parts

Road rage, yelling at people, heated political or religious arguments, a lightning-fast reaction to something someone said, are all protector parts operating in others. The louder or more extreme the reaction, the bigger the threat perceived by the protector part, and the more ruthless it will be in defending its charge.

Noticing these parts in other people has begun altering my experience of them. Instead of taking what they say personally, sometimes I’m able to see that a part is operating in the person, and I can have (a little) compassion for them instead of wanting to immediately retaliate.

Have you noticed when a protector part who took a blood vow to guard you, has sprung into action for your safety? 

Can you begin to see the protectors operating in other people?

Doing both can change your life.

Learn more about parts work in my previous blog: A Conversation with My Fear.