How Sally Integrated The Warring Parts Within Her & Found Self-Love & Healing

Listen to the full episode.

At Chris and Filly Functional Medicine, we understand that chronic health issues often stem from internal conflicts that create ongoing stress and inflammation in the body. Through our comprehensive Ending Body Burnout Method, we've discovered that many individuals carry what we call "warring parts" within themselves—conflicting aspects of personality that create internal tension and contribute to physical symptoms that resist conventional treatment approaches.

Understanding the Connection Between Internal Conflict and Physical Symptoms

When individuals struggle with chronic health conditions that don't respond to traditional treatments, there's often an underlying pattern of internal conflict that maintains stress responses in the body. At Chris and Filly Functional Medicine, our work in holistic health and integrative medicine has revealed how these internal battles between different aspects of self can create the perfect storm for conditions like eczema, chronic fatigue, compromised immunity, and mood imbalances.

The concept of internal parts work recognises that we all contain different aspects of personality that developed as protective mechanisms throughout our lives. When these parts are in conflict with each other, they create chronic stress that manifests as physical symptoms. This understanding represents a crucial breakthrough in burnout functional medicine because it explains why some individuals continue to struggle despite trying numerous practitioners and treatment approaches.

Our approach to natural healing acknowledges that true recovery often requires addressing these deeper psychological patterns alongside physical interventions. When internal parts are at war with each other, the body remains in a state of chronic activation that interferes with healing processes and maintains inflammatory responses.

The Nine-Year Journey of Seeking Solutions

Many clients who find their way to Chris and Filly Functional Medicine have spent years working with various practitioners without experiencing lasting improvement in their symptoms. This pattern of seeking help from multiple naturopaths, doctors, and other healthcare providers while symptoms remain unchanged often indicates that the root cause lies deeper than physical imbalances alone.

The frustration of trying numerous approaches without success can create additional stress that compounds existing health issues. When individuals invest time, energy, and resources into healing attempts that don't produce results, it can lead to feelings of hopelessness and self-doubt that further compromise the immune system and overall wellbeing.

Our alternative medicine approach recognises that this pattern of treatment resistance often signals the need for deeper work that addresses the unconscious patterns and beliefs that may be maintaining illness. The Ending Body Burnout Method specifically addresses these deeper layers because we've observed how crucial they are for lasting transformation.

Discovering the Warring Parts Within

The identification of internal conflicts often represents a breakthrough moment in the healing journey. Through our work in naturopathic medicine and root cause medicine, we help clients recognise the different aspects of themselves that may be in conflict and understand how these internal battles contribute to their physical symptoms.

In Sally's case, she discovered two distinct parts within herself that she came to know as "Cool as a Cucumber" and "Fickle as a Pickle." These parts represented different survival strategies that had developed over time—one focused on maintaining composure and control, while the other embodied emotional reactivity and unpredictability. The constant tension between these opposing forces created chronic stress that manifested as multiple physical symptoms.

Understanding these internal dynamics through our holistic wellness approach helps individuals recognise that their symptoms aren't random or meaningless—they're the body's way of expressing internal conflicts that need attention and resolution. This realisation often brings tremendous relief because it provides a framework for understanding previously confusing patterns.

The Root Cause Belief: "I Am Unwanted"

Perhaps the most profound aspect of parts work involves discovering the core beliefs that originally created the need for these protective mechanisms. Our work in healing from within recognises that most internal conflicts stem from early experiences that shaped fundamental beliefs about safety, worth, and belonging.

The belief "I am unwanted" represents one of the most painful and common core wounds that we encounter in our practice. This belief often develops very early in life—sometimes as young as two years old—when children experience or perceive rejection, abandonment, or conditional love. Once this belief becomes embedded in the unconscious mind, it drives the development of various protective parts that attempt to prevent future experiences of being unwanted.

Our mind body medicine approach understands that these early beliefs don't just affect emotional wellbeing—they create ongoing stress responses that influence immune function, inflammatory processes, and overall physical health. When the unconscious mind believes "I am unwanted," it may create symptoms that ensure care and attention, or it may drive perfectionist behaviours that attempt to earn love and acceptance.

The Moment of Recognition and Breakthrough

Often, there's a specific moment when individuals recognise the connection between their internal conflicts and their physical symptoms. For many clients, this breakthrough occurs while listening to root-cause coaching sessions on our podcast, where they hear their own patterns reflected in other people's stories.

This moment of recognition can be emotionally overwhelming because it represents both the pain of understanding how long these patterns have been operating and the hope that comes with finally identifying the root cause. The tears that often accompany this realisation represent a release of years of frustration, confusion, and unexpressed emotion.

Our personalised medicine approach honours these breakthrough moments while providing the support and guidance needed to work with these discoveries constructively. Understanding the patterns is just the beginning—the real transformation comes through the process of integrating these warring parts and healing the underlying beliefs.

The Integration Process and Unconscious Mind Shifts

The process of integrating warring parts involves more than just understanding them intellectually—it requires working with the unconscious mind to create new patterns of internal relationship. Our Ending Body Burnout Method includes specific techniques for facilitating this integration process.

Integration work often involves developing compassion for all parts of self, understanding their positive intentions, and finding ways for them to work together rather than against each other. This process requires patience and skill because these parts developed for good reasons and may resist change if they don't feel safe or understood.

The unconscious mind responds to consistent, compassionate attention to these internal dynamics. Through various techniques including visualisation, dialogue work, and somatic practices, individuals can begin to create internal harmony where there was once conflict. This internal peace often translates directly into physical improvements as the body no longer needs to express internal tension through symptoms.

Physical and Emotional Transformation Results

When internal parts successfully integrate and core beliefs shift, the results can be remarkable. Our whole body health approach recognises that true healing affects every aspect of an individual's experience—physical symptoms, emotional wellbeing, relationships, and overall life satisfaction.

The improvement in physical symptoms often happens gradually as the nervous system learns to trust the new internal harmony. Eczema may clear, energy levels may increase, immunity may strengthen, and mood may stabilise as the body no longer needs to maintain chronic stress responses. These changes reflect the body's natural healing capacity when internal conflicts are resolved.

Beyond physical improvements, individuals often experience profound shifts in their relationships, career satisfaction, and overall sense of purpose. When internal warring stops, energy that was previously consumed by internal conflict becomes available for creativity, connection, and growth.

The Ripple Effects of Internal Integration

The healing that occurs through parts integration often extends far beyond the individual to affect their relationships and broader life circumstances. When someone stops battling themselves internally, they often find that external conflicts also begin to resolve more easily.

Our health optimisation approach recognises that individual healing contributes to collective wellbeing. When people heal their internal conflicts, they become more available for authentic connection and contribution to their communities. This ripple effect represents one of the most beautiful aspects of deep healing work.

Evidence Collection and Hope for Others

Sharing stories of successful integration and healing serves an important function in our approach to preventative health and wellness medicine. These real-life examples provide evidence that deep healing is possible and help others recognise their own patterns and possibilities.

The concept of "evidence collecting" involves actively seeking and sharing stories of transformation to counteract the often discouraging messages that chronic illness sufferers receive about their prognosis. When people can see and hear about others who have healed from similar conditions, it expands their sense of what's possible for their own healing journey.

Moving Beyond Symptom Management to True Healing

The journey from chronic illness to vibrant health often requires moving beyond symptom management approaches to address the deeper patterns that maintain illness. Our functional nutrition and comprehensive healing approach provides the framework for this deeper work while supporting the body's physical needs during the transformation process.

True healing involves addressing not just what's wrong with the body, but what's right with the person—their innate capacity for wholeness, their natural healing abilities, and their potential for growth and transformation. This perspective shift from pathology to possibility often catalyses profound healing experiences.

Ready to discover how addressing your own internal conflicts and core beliefs could transform your health and life? We invite you to explore how our comprehensive approach to parts integration and unconscious mind healing could help you resolve the internal battles that may be maintaining your symptoms. Book a Discovery Call with us to learn more about our transformative methodology, or take the first step through our Connect the Dots consultation to begin understanding how internal conflicts might be affecting your health and wellbeing.

Remember, your symptoms may be expressions of internal conflicts that can be resolved through compassionate integration work. When you're ready to explore this deeper approach to healing and discover the harmony that's possible within yourself, we're here to guide you on your journey to wholeness and vibrant health.

Listen to the full episode.

Filipa Bellette  is Co-Founder of multi award-winning health practice Chris & Filly Functional Medicine. She is an accredited Clinical Nutritionist, Functional Medicine Practitioner, Coach & Trauma Therapist. She is also a PhD Scholar, author & regularly featured in the media, such as nine.com.au, Forbes and Body+Soul.

Together with her husband Chris Bellette, Filipa has worked with over 2,000+ burned-out clients in the past combined 25+ years. Their practice is best known for ending body burnout (for good!) in “busy” people with energy, mood & gut issues. They were recently awarded as the Tasmanian State Winner & National Finalist for the Telstra Best of Business Awards 2022, as well as Winner for the Australian Women’s Small Business Champion Awards 2022.

Filipa’s own passion for helping “busy” people have more energy, productivity and connection, came from her own personal experience of body burnout, after juggling the demands of business, family, and her failing health.