This consciousness never allows you to express yourself, so you eventually try to become a people-pleaser. You channel all your thoughts and emotions and bottle it up to become the person you never were. In this process you lose what you originally were as a child and this is where it all fades away.
Others don't know that keeping your inner child alive within you will always make you happier and more optimistic about life. It's only a matter of reigniting the things and thoughts you enjoyed as a young child and continuing them well into adulthood.
Inner child healing is important because it recognizes past trauma and provides the necessary tools for moving forward. Understanding where certain behavior patterns stem from is an important step in the recovery process. Inner child healing helps individuals access their pain in a way that is productive and gentle.
Inner child work focuses on addressing our unmet needs by reparenting ourselves. This kind of self-discovery helps us understand our behaviors, triggers, wants, and needs. When we begin inner child healing work, we tap into a part of ourselves that is vulnerable and impressionable.
In some cases, that wound to our inner child could be the result of trauma, abuse, or abandonment. In other cases, the source of the pain may be more subtle – experiencing unmet emotional needs, the illness of a parent or sibling, growing up in a broken family, or even a childhood friend moving away.
But, psychologically speaking, this is not adulthood. True adulthood hinges on acknowledging, accepting, and taking responsibility for loving and parenting one's own inner child. For most adults, this never happens.
You may develop negative habits like avoiding people and always running yourself down as a way to look for sympathy. Feeling incomplete, you become confused and angry. Adult tantrums are the result of not feeling the hopeful contribution of your inner child in your day to day interactions.
Nurture and love – Often our inner child needs love and reassurance. Speaking this way to ourselves, our inner child can help soothe negative feelings and create the feelings of safety they lacked.
Becoming more aware of the inner child through therapy or a personal journey can help unearth that pain and ultimately offer healing. Acknowledging the inner child involves recognizing and accepting things that caused pain in childhood, bringing them to light to understand their impact now (Raypole, 2021).
Our inner child is a part of ourselves that's been present ever since we were conceived, through utero and all the developing years after where we were young and developing into tender selves: baby, infant, toddler, young child and middle school year.
People with wounded inner children can often experience persistent and chronic feelings of emptiness, helplessness and hopelessness. They might feel that they are existing as a false self and that their life lacks a sense of aliveness or spontaneity. They might also feel deeply disconnected from others.
You lose your inner child at the point when you think that you do not need it anymore. You lose it when you succumb to the pressures of society, when you get a little too conscious, and when you think that others might begin to laugh at you.
An inner child may also show themself positively through playful behaviors, joking, adventurousness, impulsivity, creativity, and imagination. Often, when people connect with their inner child, they might do so without meaning to. It is also common to explore inner child therapy due to a traumatic childhood event.
The inner child is the human's childlike aspect and it draws from everything that you have learned and experienced as a kid before puberty. This inner child signifies a semi-independent unit that subordinates to your conscious mind and being aware of it can help you improve your life.
Healing your inner child doesn't happen overnight; the work can take years. But it's worth it, Stern says. “You'll probably be capable of healthier adult relationships,” she notes.
Origins. Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) originated the concept in his divine child archetype.
If your daughter feels unloved, she may suffer from several emotional problems. Symptoms can include depression, anxiety, self-harm, and more. These feelings are often the result of the way her parents treated her during her childhood.
You should expect that you will never really “get over” the death of your child. But you will learn to live with the loss, making it a part of who you are. Your child's death may make you rethink your priorities and the meaning of life. It may seem impossible, but you can find happiness and purpose in life again.
Communicate aloud with your inner child
If you feel strained or upset, comfort your reflection. Speak words you would want to hear from someone you love. Speak words you never heard as a child but desperately needed to hear. Say exactly what your inner child needs to hear right now.