Honouring Your Inner Child
In this week’s newsletter, I was sharing about how I recreated an adult version of my childhood tiger chair, and potentially healed something deep inside.
‘Inner Child work’ is another one of those terms that gets bandied around - but what does it actually mean, and how do we do it?
When we’re little, and learning how to navigate in the world, we’re effectively building a computer program of how to live. Sometimes - like with all computer programs or systems - we come across a little glitch and when the messaging gets mixed up, this ‘faulty’ program can rerun for us in our adult lives and affect things in a way that we might not have full understanding of.
In the context of my tiger chair, my programming ended up with the messaging that the things that mattered to me weren’t important, and that my feelings around that didn’t matter. Also, that I couldn’t trust others with the things that mattered to me.
Now, it’s really important to note that this ‘damaged bit of programming’ wasn’t caused intentionally - my mum didn’t know any better, and that's ok - this isn’t about blame.
However, it’s arguable that this event and other events like it, have led to an underlying belief that I can’t trust people, that my feelings don’t matter and that I don’t deserve things that I love. Dramatic - but kids don’t understand things the way adults do and I think it’s important that we remember that.
I know there are people out there who think this kind of thing is utter nonsense but I believe it to be powerful stuff and I challenge you to consider how events in your childhood have resulted in faulty bits of programming that have held you back in your life - maybe without you even realising.
Here are some journalling prompts to help you on your way…
What was one thing you wanted to do as a child, but couldn’t?
Did you need extra support when you were little that wasn’t provided for you? Is there a way that you can support yourself with that now?
If you could go back and give advice to a younger version of yourself, what would you say or do?
What would little you think of the life you live now?
What did you need to hear when you were young that you can remind yourself now?
What one thing can you do to honour your inner child this week?
This stuff can be tough stuff, so take it slowly and be kind to yourself. As ever, reach out if you need some extra support.