How To Take Advantage Of Your Inner Child
The inner child is made up of the feelings that remain within us, as a result of experiences lived in our childhood. These are lessons that we learned as children and that we cannot unlearn, desires that we welcome as children and that we still preserve in the depths of our being.
Why is it important to get to know her?
Good feelings lead to good habits, qualities, and success as adults, but negative feelings can result in destructive patterns that interfere with our adult lives. Working with the inner child helps us identify what caused these destructive patterns, assimilate what happened, and heal the old wounds that still cause us pain.
Merging your healthy inner child with your adult personality creates a balanced view of yourself and also brings your peace of mind.
How do we know if our inner child is hurt?
Almost everyone experienced something in their childhood that marked “on fire” their way of thinking and acting, and as Therese J. Borchard says in her article “ 6 Steps to Help Heal Your Inner Child ” (6 Steps to Help Heal your Inner Child) about our parents, most likely “they were hurting children too”.
We can say the same about our teachers, grandparents, uncles and other adults who participated in our creation. However, the goal of healing your inner child is not to find the culprits, but to accept what happened and take control of how it affects your life today.
Consequences of Repressing the Inner Child
Some of the consequences of ignoring your inner child are: not knowing how to relax or cope with stress, being someone who takes life very seriously, generating feelings of guilt for not being good enough, being prone to isolation, and so on.
These habits are a product of your inner child’s irrational beliefs, such as “I’ll never be important enough for Dad to stop drinking.” Once you identify these beliefs, you can begin to replace them with realistic truths, “Dad made some bad decisions, but now I can avoid them.”
Reliving the pain that certain memories produce can be a heartrending process. As children we felt responsible for everything that happened in the home and were unable to understand that maybe our parents had problems that had nothing to do with us.
Only after realizing that we were simply children and realizing that we couldn’t have done anything at that time to change our circumstances, can we let go of this misguided guilt and really begin to cultivate self-love within us.
So even though it can be difficult to come face to face with what’s bothering you from your past, don’t run away because it’s worth it.
a healthy inner child
After comforting and healing your inner child, it becomes an innocent, inquisitive, simple, playful, and joyful being who can produce joy and creativity.
Once you have your inner child healthy, then you can take on the role of “father” to her. In the same way that a wise and loving parent does, you can grant the healthy wishes to play, to walk an entire afternoon laughing and enjoying yourself. If some of these old false thoughts come up from your inner child, you can reassure him by reassuring him of his worth.
Image courtesy of Ben Raynal
