You Are Not So Smart 335 - Align Your Mind - Britt Frank (rebroadcast)
Mar 16, 2026
Britt Frank, licensed neuropsychotherapist and trauma specialist who wrote Align Your Mind, guides you through Parts Work and Internal Family Systems. Short takes cover protectors, reactors, story keepers, and weirdo parts. She explains regulation, excavation, and activation steps, reframes the inner critic, and shows how to align competing parts so values and behavior cooperate.
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Mind As Multiple Cooperative Parts
- Internal Family Systems (parts work) models the mind as multiple specialized subunits that interact and sometimes compete rather than a single unified controller.
- David McRaney and Britt Frank compare it to managers, firefighters, and exiles or departments and agents coordinating behavior.
You Cant Kill Unwanted Parts
- Trying to eliminate or silence unwanted parts fails because parts have functions; they evolved to protect from perceived threats.
- Britt Frank argues working with parts, not warring with them, reduces physiological stress and is more effective.
Self As Conductor And Emergent Organizer
- The self can be seen both as an emergent conductor and an amalgamation of parts; multiple perspectives are valid.
- Britt Frank likens the self to an inner CEO or observer that can coordinate parts without erasing them.
