Acknowledging Your Inner Child

As I sit here writing this post tonight, Monsters Inc is playing in the background. I know what you all are thinking.. shes 23, really Disney movies?!  First off why not and second, Disney+ is the best thing ever invented.

Yesterday I binge-watched most of my old childhood favorites, and might I say it was awesome lol. But that's not what my post will be about tonight. The importance is loving that inner child.

We all remember our childhood or at least up until a certain age. I hope all of you have had amazing memories. The ones of feeling loved by your parents, spoiled by grandma and grandpa, or how about those memories that where we didn't have a care in the world?!

 We would scrape our knee, cry for a bit, and then get right back up and run free. Children are so extraordinary. Have you ever taken the time to listen to a child and how they express themselves? Pretty fascinating!

A few years back, I worked in a school working one on one with children who are on the autism spectrum. Most of the children in the class were non-verbal except for three. One of my students Manny always had a lot to say!!

He would always come off the bus telling me stories. His creative mind blew me away. Being around children all my life, I have finally recognized to find that inner child in myself.

As we age we tend to become more serious, our external environments influence our emotions more than we think. We are more reactive and definitely negative. Everyone has an inner child in them.

Depending on the environment, how you were raised, the morals and values that were passed down on to you factor the child in you as you grow up. Many people suffer from trauma and that causes the inner child to shut down. Unfortunately, if your inner self isn't mended, it will take a toll on you mentally and emotionally.

Handling stress and attitude is a big factor when your inner child hasn't been recognized, maybe you can't stick up for yourself, or your self worth is determined by others. There's a lot of factors on why our inner child works against us, but I'm here to assure you that you and your little self inside have the ability to flourish and heal.

But you have to do the work! Inner work is the hardest because its hard to face our trauma or even recognize there's still some hurt left inside of us. Let's get to healing ourselves because once we heal those parts of us, we can help heal others.

Have you ever noticed while admiring a cute baby or a toddler smiling at you, you get that warm, gushy feeling inside? Being around children for a long time. I realized I had abandoned that.

To find your inner child, let me give you some tips that you can practice daily, or whenever you feel like it. I still have a lot to work on with finding my inner child but being aware is the first step to healing.

Write a letter to him or her

To connect with the inner child, why not write a letter to him or her? Express how you feel towards yourself, don't focus on the mistakes you've made, focus on those loving times, the times you felt invincible!

Find a picture of your childhood

Connect yourself to a picture of you when you were younger. Focus on that picture, say nurturing things to yourself like you would to anyone else or a child.

Meditation

Meditation really helps when connecting to your inner self. Close your eyes, letting thoughts come and go until no thoughts are present. Focusing on your breath will allow you to be in the present moment.  In that present moment, rest your attention on your childhood. Fill yourself up with love, abundance, blissfulness. Connecting those positive emotions with your inner spirit will allow healing one step a time.

Therapy

Therapy will also help any unresolved trauma to come up. Expressing yourself, how you feel, maybe about a particularly painful moment will allow you to recognize, and then let go of those painful emotions. By letting go of painful memories, especially the ones surrounded by your childhood, will allow you to heal maybe not entirely( I'm not a doctor, just expressing my personal thoughts and experiences) but will bring you one step closer. We all deserve our inner child to be healed and loved.

Remember you are worth it!