Improve Your System Communication with This 1 Daily Practice
(Summary) One of the simplest yet most powerful habits for Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and Other Specified Dissociative Disorder (OSDD) recovery is the daily system meeting. This short practice—just two or three minutes at the start of your day—helps orient trauma-holding parts to the present, lowers anxiety by outlining what to expect, and builds trust through consistency. Over time, daily meetings strengthen communication and cooperation, creating a more stable foundation for healing.
System communication is a must in order to continue to make progress on your recovery journey. Early on, your system may have little or no communication. Developing some ability to communicate is healing in itself. The daily habit I’m going to tell you about will not only help with system communication, it will help with trust and developing cooperation within the system. That’s a lot of payoff for one habit. So what is the superpower of a habit? The daily meeting.
I used to call it a morning meeting. But many of my clients don’t start their days until afternoon and the name was confusing in those situations. So now I call it the daily meeting. It doesn’t matter if it’s morning or night but I encourage you to do it shortly after your day starts.
For the daily meeting, you are going to ask everyone in the system to gather around or listen in. If your system has a meeting spot, do it there. If your system does not have a meeting spot, you might just ask everyone to listen to you. Because I’m assuming you are still early in your recovery journey, you’re going to tell them the date and where you are. For instance, “Today is Wednesday, August 14. The year is 02/2024. The body has grown up now. Although we grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, now live in Kansas City, Missouri.”
So why do I want you to tell your system this? Because many of the parts holding trauma will believe that they are still living in your childhood home back in 1989 whatever the year. We want them to become oriented to the present and its different circumstances. Telling them once or even a dozen times may not change their orientation to where and when, but over time it will make a difference.
Next, ask who is present at the meeting. Early on, you may hear nothing but silence, and that’s okay. But if you get responses, that’s fantastic. Thank those parts for being at the meeting. Now you want to let everyone in the system know what to expect for the day. “Here’s what we’re doing today. At noon, going to work. If this is scary to anyone, you can go to a safe space inside instead. At 4PM, we will go home from work. Or stopping at the grocery store on the way home to get a few groceries. After dinner, we’re going to meet Jane and walk around the park.”
Letting everyone know what to expect in the coming hours can reduce anxiety in the system. If you have a doctor’s appointment, and some alters are scared of the doctor, it can help for them to understand the appointment will be happening. If they’re scared about it, at least they have had warning instead of suddenly finding themselves at the doctor’s office. Also, you have reminded them that they do not have to be present at that doctor’s appointment and can instead go to a safe place inside, leaving you the adult to handle the appointment.
Next, ask, “Does anyone have any concern or questions about today?” Wait a minute to see if anyone brings up anything. It may take them a bit of time to decide it’s safe to ask you. So don’t rush. Finally, “Thank you all for coming to this meeting. Tomorrow, at the beginning of the day, we will do this again so you know what to expect.”
And that’s it. This new daily habit might take all of two or three minutes. It’s not a long meeting, Probably the hardest part about it initially is just remembering to make it a habit. If this is a problem for you, set a reminder alarm on your phone for a time when you are certain you will be awake for the day. So if you typically wake up for the day around 11AM or noon, set your alarm for 12:30 or 1 p.m.
It’s really important that if you say you’re going to do this, then you do it. Remember how I said this will help your system develop trust and cooperation? Well, if you say you’re going to do it but don’t, you’re going to lose the trust of others in the system. But if you consistently show up, welcome every everyone who is listening and tell them what to expect for the day, and then thank them for their time, they’re going to begin to realize that you are someone they can depend on. In other words, they may begin to give you a little bit of their trust and that’s crucial to healing. They will also begin to give you the benefit of the doubt. This helps the system begin to cooperate with you also.
Over time, you should find that you get responses from the others. This is evidence that the system communication is beginning to happen. I’m not sure there’s anything else you could do in two or three minutes that will pay off in so many ways your recovery from DID. It’s that important.
Frequently Asked Questions
What if no one responds during a daily meeting?
Silence at first is completely normal. Many parts may be unsure if it’s safe to engage or may not yet recognize your efforts. Even if no one answers, your consistency shows reliability, which builds trust over time. Eventually, you may notice small signs of acknowledgment or brief responses as parts begin to feel safer.
How long should a system meeting last?
A daily system meeting doesn’t need to take more than two or three minutes. The focus is on orientation, sharing the plan for the day, and giving parts a chance to raise concerns. If conversations naturally grow longer later in recovery, that’s fine—but early on, short and consistent is most effective.
What if I forget to hold the meeting?
Forgetting happens, especially when you’re starting a new habit. The key is to acknowledge it honestly and recommit the next day. You can even set a reminder alarm to help build consistency. Over time, following through regularly is what builds trust—missing once in a while won’t undo your efforts as long as you keep coming back.
Why does consistency matter so much?
Many parts of a DID or OSDD system have lived with unpredictability and broken promises. Holding daily meetings reliably shows that you are dependable. Each time you follow through, you demonstrate safety and stability, which helps trauma-holding parts begin to trust you and encourages cooperation across the system.