How to Connect with Your Inner Child

How to Connect with Your Inner Child

Introduction

Connecting with your inner child is the starting point of healing your childhood. Inner child healing is a transformative practice that deeply heals your emotional wounds. It clears the pathway for better physical and mental health and tremendous personal growth. This work means recognizing and nurturing the childlike aspects of yourself. Your inner child is a personification of the memories, emotions, and experiences of your early years. Connecting with your inner child is the way to address unresolved traumas and  become self-aware. This article provides a comprehensive guide on how to connect with your inner child.

What is the Inner Child

The inner child is a part of your subconscious that still thinks, feels and behaves the way you did as a child. It is frozen in time.  Each time you faced trauma an inner child was created. This means a part of your personality remained stuck, and was unable to grow. As you grew into an adult and took on responsibilities handed to you by life, this part stayed with you. It emerges sometimes – when you are happy and free or when you are sulky, angry or afraid and cannot hold it in. This inner child influences your adult behaviors, emotional responses, and relationships. This happens without your conscious awareness. Connecting with your inner child involves recognizing this influence. It means making this child trust you (your adult self). It involves integrating this fragmented part of your personality with who you are in the present.

Steps to Connect with Your Inner Child

1. Become open to the idea 

For many of you, it might be very alien to perceive that you, a full grown adult has a child within you and that child holds the key to solving some of your problems. You need an open mindedness to be okay with this. If you are thinking you can stay focussed on the present moment and your past experiences don’t matter at all, think again. While this might be true conceptually and intellectually, your day to day experience would show you how ready you are to truly live in the present moment. 

2. Acknowledge Your Inner Child

When you first see your inner child – in a spontaneous recollection of a past incident or a guided visualization, pay close attention and acknowledge their presence. You will likely have a strong rush of emotion as you see or sense your younger version. Allow it without any resistance. Gather up the courage to say a few words of recognition – Hey little one, or Hi —-(your nickname). If you are comfortable, establish contact by hugging or stroking the inner child you see in your visualization. This is the  first step in connecting with your inner child.  It lays the foundation for all subsequent healing efforts.

3. Reflect on Your Childhood

You could spend some quiet time thinking about your childhood experiences, both positive and negative. As you begin taking notes about a particular incident or episode in your early life, you will find emotions coming up. Acknowledge these uncomfortable feelings, identify them and begin writing about them. You will find that there are more incidents that come up. These occured either before or after the first one you identified and wrote about. In this work, you become comfortable about referring to incidents occuring at 4 , 8 or 13 as your 4, 8 and 13 year old inner child. There may be difficult periods in your childhood – change of school or city, losing  a grandparent or parent, the birth of a sibling, an injury, fight or anything that involved hurt and pain which you did not have the permission to feel.  Journaling is a good place to start. You can then address these inner wounds through age regression therapy and work on healing the inner children.  

4. Visualization Techniques

It is always best to begin your visualization with a qualified regression therapist (hypnotherapist). They will be able to relax you to go into the narrative from the past smoothly and take care of you when intense emotions make it difficult to go on with the process. A good place to start, if you want to do this work on your own, is to relax and bring forth a happy inner child to get comfortable. You may see your younger version running, playing, swimming, drawing, singing or taking part in any activity that you loved.  You may see the memory of a birthday party you attended or your own birthday celebration, winning an award, a race or the visit of an affectionate relative. See the adult you (who you are today) meeting the inner child and making friends with them. This would open the doors to working with some of the challenging content in your life story. 

5. Practice Self-Compassion

While beginning inner child work, make sure to treat yourself – the adult you with the same kindness and compassion you would offer to a child. Tone down any harsh criticisms coming up in your self-talk with yourself. Be mindful to take care of your physical needs – to get the right nutrition, sleep, rest and recreation. You are now embarking on the journey of re-parenting yourself. Open your heart to love yourself unconditionally. Forgive yourself slowly – you have now begun to recognize that your childhood experiences were not your fault.  You deserve love and care. Self-compassion is crucial in the healing process.

5. Positive Affirmations

As with any therapeutic process, there are bound to be difficult days when you doubt and question yourself. Writing and listening to positive affirmations is the antidote to self-doubt, blame and criticism. Blaming yourself is actually a deflection from seeing the real issues. When you affirm that you love and respect yourself, the emotions that do not match will arise and you can work on them. Begin reading affirmations for different topics. Choose the ones that resonate with you the most. Record them in your own voice. Make a practice of listening to them every morning when you wake up and at night before you fall asleep. This is an excellent way to change neural pathways in your brain from blame and hatred to appreciation and lnove. 

Conclusion

Connecting with your inner child is a powerful process. Opening yourself to the ideal that a younger you holds the key to healing your wounds and undertaking this journey is a rewarding one. that can lead to profound emotional healing and personal growth. By acknowledging and nurturing your inner child, you can address unresolved traumas, foster self-awareness, and enhance your overall well-being. The power of connecting with your inner child lies in its ability to foster emotional well-being, personal growth, and improved relationships.

Call to Action

If you recognize the need to connect with your inner child, consider taking the first steps today. Open your mind to the concept, open your heart to the little child in you  and get started on your healing journey.The Inner Child Workshop offers you an opportunity to  connect  with your inner child and discover the profound impact it can have on your life. Get in touch for a free introduction session today,

Meena Iyer :- 9999966540

meenaiyer99@gmail.com