Prefer to read or listen?

You can now experience the reflection in whichever format works best for you.

📖 Read the full blog post below if you’d like to take your time and reflect at your own pace.

🎥 Prefer to listen? Watch the YouTube version, where I share this week’s reflections in a more conversational format.

Whether you choose to read, watch, or both, I hope this first Saguaro Sunday encourages you to slow down, reflect, and think about your own week.

Part 1. Welcome or Welcome Back to Saguaro Sunday

Saguaro Sunday is our weekly opportunity to slow down. It’s a chance to practice gratitude, celebrate what went well, acknowledge where we can grow, and reflect on what we learned. It’s also a time to look ahead and ask ourselves: 

What do I want to learn this week? How do I want to bloom a little more?

My hope is that as you read, you’ll also reflect on your own week. You can open up your Notes Notes app on your phone, or better yet, open up a physical notebook/journal!

If you’re comfortable, I’d also love for you to share your reflections in the comments so we can continue learning from one another!

Part 2: This Week’s Gratitude – The Village Around Me

As always, I am grateful for my family, job, home, health, and Coco.

This week, I am feeling especially grateful for my village (my friends). 

My car’s AC has been out all summer, and with Arizona’s heat only getting worse, I finally took it in to be repaired. Because the issue might be covered under an extended warranty, the dealership is keeping it until sometime next week. I had hoped to have it back before the weekend because I already had plans: margaritas and dinner at Chili’s with a few girlfriends on Friday, boba and some shopping with another friend on Saturday morning, church Sunday morning, trivia Sunday night…and somewhere in there, I still needed to buy groceries.

Thankfully, my village stepped in without hesitation. One friend picked me up for dinner, another took me grocery shopping afterward (bless her…who wants to wander around Walmart on a Friday night?), my Saturday plans turned into my friend driving to me so we could still spend the day together while running some errands at Target and Costco, another pair of friends picked me up for the birthday party, and another friend went out of her way to take me to church (and join me for the first time!)

On paper, they’re just rides. But to me, they were reminders that I’m surrounded by people who genuinely care about me and want to spend time with me. It also reminded me that community isn’t something we simply hope to have one day. We build it over time through countless small acts of kindness, generosity, and showing up for one another.

There’s a saying I really love: 

“If you want a village, you have to be a villager.” 

I hope that when the roles are reversed, and they always are eventually, I can be that kind of friend for others too.

Part 3: This Week’s Bloom: The Village Within & Listening to Our Inner Parts

Over the past two weeks, I’ve been researching a form of psychotherapy called Internal Family Systems (IFS), and for me, it might be one of the most practical psychological frameworks I’ve ever come across. IFS views the mind as being made up of different “parts” that each have their own roles. Some parts carry old wounds and painful emotions (exiles), some try to keep us safe by staying in control and preventing us from getting hurt (managers), and others jump in when those painful emotions become overwhelming by trying to distract or numb us (firefighters). While these parts often have different strategies and can even come into conflict with one another, IFS teaches that beneath them all is our Self: the calm, compassionate, grounded part of us that is capable of leading with curiosity rather than fear.

The goal of IFS isn’t to get rid of these parts or decide that some are “bad.” Instead, it’s to understand why they developed, appreciate how they’ve tried to protect us, and help them trust the Self enough to let it take the lead.

IFS has already helped me understand myself in a way that years of reading books and watching psychology content hadn’t quite managed to do.

Of course, not every therapeutic approach is right for every person. I also want to be clear that I’m not a therapist. Right now, therapy isn’t financially accessible for me, so I spend a lot of time reading about different psychological frameworks and reflecting on how they apply to my own life.

As someone who majored in English, I’ve spent much of my life trying to understand fictional characters: their motivations, fears, contradictions, and growth. IFS invites us to approach ourselves with that same curiosity. That’s why this framework resonates with me so deeply. It encourages us to see our thoughts, fears, and protective instincts almost like characters with their own stories, each one developing for a reason and trying, in its own way, to help us.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the stages of change. Looking back, I realize I was living them again. I spent the past two weeks in the preparation stage, reading about IFS and trying to understand it. Then, on Monday morning, I finally moved into the action stage.

I had skipped my morning pages the day before, so I decided to write six pages instead of my usual three. I also decided this would be my first real attempt at using IFS, not just as something interesting to read about, but as a tool to better understand myself.

I started with a question around something that has been causing me pain, and I went from there.

I asked myself: “What am I afraid will happen if I do x or if I don’t do x?”

A protector part stepped forward and immediately answered, “You’ll be alone.”

Instead of arguing with that, I thanked it.

Then, with gentleness, I asked, “Why do you believe that?” 

That allowed me to reach my wounded part, which is a young, child part of myself. My Self was able to tell her that she is safe. 

We have a home. 

We have Coco.

We have a village. 

We have family.

 And finally, 

I am here.

The adult me. 

The adult Self.

I realized that I didn’t need to get rid of the frightened part of me. I just needed it to know it wasn’t alone anymore.

All of this internal work gave me the confidence to make a decision to help me resolve the initial problem I was facing. 

Now that I have attempted this mode of therapy, I feel more confident going forward with any other challenges that may come. I can continue practicing the skills to reconnect with my Self and let that wiser part lead. 

I think the other reason this modality resonates with me is because there’s something spiritual about it too. Reaching your Self reminds me of what many spiritual traditions describe when they talk about listening for God’s voice or the Holy Spirit, not because they’re necessarily the same thing, but because both invite us to respond from a place of peace rather than fear. I have always had a hard time with listening to that voice. It has felt so abstract to me, and maybe because I am so practical, having a pathway and steps to reach that Self feels so comforting.

Again, I don’t know if IFS will resonate with everyone. Every person is different, and every therapeutic approach has its place. If you’ve ever felt like different parts of you were pulling in opposite directions, this framework may be worth exploring, especially with the guidance of a trusted therapist, if that is accessible to you. For me, it has become another reminder that understanding ourselves isn’t about judging the parts of us that are hurting, but about listening to them with curiosity and compassion.

Part 4: This Week’s Wonder – Rapid-fire Edition! 

It was a busier week at work, and I’ve been spending most of my free time learning more about Internal Family Systems and consuming a lot of art and psychology content. Because of that, this week’s list of rabbit holes is a little shorter than usual. However, one big thing I learned this week is…

• I learned that a documentary was recently released about allegations of sexual abuse involving Jared Leto. I’ll probably write about this in more depth another time because it has me thinking about celebrity culture, accountability, and what it means to reassess people we once admired. If you know me, you know I used to be a huge fan. Over the past couple of years, after first hearing rumors about this online, I’ve gradually distanced myself from supporting him. After learning more this week, I just want to reiterate that I no longer support this man and I do believe these women.

Part 5: Next Week’s Growth 

Like I said, work has been busier, so my goal this week is just to maintain my usual habits: morning pages, yoga, exercising etc. Like I’ve been saying over the past couple of weeks, I still want to start creating some free worksheets, but I’ll be happy if I can make this post and last week’s post into a Saguaro Sunday video.

Now it’s your turn!

🌵What are you grateful for this week?

🌵 What did you learn?

🌵 What’s something you’ve been wondering about lately?

🌵 How do you want to bloom a little more this week?

🌵 Question of the Week: What’s one part of yourself you’ve been learning to understand with more compassion?

I’d genuinely love to hear your reflections. Thank you again for spending part of your Sunday (or whatever day it is when you’re reading this) with me.

I’ll see you tomorrow for Motivation Monday over on my socials!

Until then…

Learn a bit each day. Bloom a little more. 🌵