The Village - free video course
I like to think we each have our own internal village. This village is made up of our thoughts, needs, emotions - all represented by different villagers.
In this series of videos, I talk about how this village was created through what we experienced growing up and how to work with it so we feel more in charge of our lives - our thoughts, emotions and actions.
The internal village is my own conceptualisation, inspired mostly by ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) and CFT (Compassion Focused Therapy) and Karla McLaren’s work around emotions.
My hope in sharing these free resources is that it can be a starting point on the journey of learning to inhabit your own village in a more harmonious and effective way: Relating to thoughts and emotions differently so you can take action towards what matters to you.
Thank you Björn for the video shooting and editing!
How the village was created
How was our internal village created? What parts of it can we control / not control? How does it make sense that we do what we do?
In these first videos, I talk about the parts of the village you didn’t choose - and the parts you can change based on this quote by Paul Gilbert, founder of Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT):
“It’s not your fault but it is your responsibility.”
How it makes sense that we do what we do
Why do we do what we do, even when it doesn't seem to make sense? What if there was a good reason for self-sabotage?
In this video, I explore how it make sense that our villages were built the way they were built - leading to behaviour we don’t always like or understand.
Working with the different villagers
How do we work with the different villagers in our village without going crazy? This next video talks about a way to do this.
What happens when we are stuck, confused or self-sabotaging
Being stuck, confused or self-sabotaging all have something in common: An internal conflict between villagers who want different things for our village. This next video talks about how to deal with this.
Working with emotions in the village
How do we work with emotion villagers when they want to take over our internal village? This video talks about a way to work with our emotions. I owe a lot of my understanding of emotions to the excellent work of Karla McLaren.
The village needs boundaries!
Our village needs a healthy boundary that helps us protect and take care of our village - and tells us where we end and others begin.
Why do we have the boundary style we have? How can we build a strong enough boundary to protect and take care of our village?
These next videos talk about building boundaries around our village. More information and diagrams here.
How powerful are we really?
What are we responsible and not responsible for in the world around us?
What is part of my village (my responsibility) vs your village (your responsibility)?
This final video talks about our village in interaction with the outside world - with other villages.
More information and diagrams here.