Healing Your Inner Child
Written by Sotonye Alamina
What is an Inner Child?
Your inner child is you when you are going through your early development stages. This is the stage that can be described as your childhood when you were young and playful. Some people have trauma from their childhood and that pain shows up when their older/an adult. That trauma affects how you move through life and how you respond to certain things.
Become Aware that Your Inner Child Exist s
Anyone can get in touch with their inner child as long as they’re willing to do it. You might feel strange or awkward while getting in touch, but bringing the hurt to life will help you understand its impact.
Ways to Help
Write a letter to your inner child: The letter can include events from your childhood that you feel strongly about and try to explain the situation from your older perspective. For example, you were always forced to share things with your siblings and you never felt like anything was really yours. The explanation for that could be maybe your parents didn’t have the resources to buy things or they wanted to put an emphasis on being selfless and kind. Giving an explanation for it will help that pain you may feel.
Meditate: Sitting in uncomfortable emotions can help get you used to them and become more aware of them. It can help you become more self aware and encourages you to express your feelings.
Journal: Journaling as your inner child can help you become more aware of the things that you were feeling at the time. You can see patterns that will later help you when trying to heal your inner child. To do this you need to come out of your present self and try to go back into yourself as a child. You can look at pictures or visualize to help. You should write down any memories you have that you may feel strongly about.
Go back to the things you once did that make you happy as a child: You should do things that are going to make your inner child feel happy. Think back to when you were a child and your favorite things to do. Some things you can do include going to the pool with friends, watching your favorite tv show or movies from when you were a child, listening to your favorite songs from that time, playing board games or online kids games, play outside in the snow or leaves, color in a coloring book, and make slime or craft something. You might feel like it is silly or awkward but your inner child will feel better in the end. Don't be afraid to incorporate more “childish” things into your life so that inner child can heal overtime.
Talk to a therapist: They are trained professionals that can help you heal past traumas and any negative emotions you had from the past. Psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy is a great option for exploring your past and learning about how it affects you now that you’re older.
Conclusion
When working towards healing your inner child, you will notice a more complete sense of self and a boost of confidence and motivation. You will heal your emotional wounds and further know how to handle your emotions.
Remember it is never too late. You could be a late teen or well into your adult years to start healing your inner child.