Inner Child Healing: What is it & How Can it Help You?
If you're wondering what inner child healing is, you're not alone. It's a way for adults to take care of themselves by addressing parts of themselves that need love or healing based on what happened to them when they were younger. Positive and negative experiences from childhood can shape how we communicate, show up in relationships, and even how we treat ourselves later on in life.
It's not a little person inside of you, but rather your subconscious mind that has been formed by experiences and traumas from ages 0-9.
So, who exactly is this inner child? These experiences, or lack thereof, can affect how you show up in your adult life. Science has shown that the right side of our brain, responsible for emotions and creativity, is formed in the first five years of life, making it crucial to our overall well-being. While, the inner adult is governed by the left side of our brain, which is responsible for logic, reasoning, and analysis. It collects and analyzes the lessons and experiences we've had throughout our lives. So if that child was not tended to, it’s needs were not met, was told it couldn’t express itself, to stop crying, toughen up, and also have to navigate traumas alone - it can all show up in your adult life.
How do you know if you need inner child healing? Childhood wounds can lead to imposter syndrome, depression, anxiety, unhealthy coping mechanisms, unhealthy relationships, and more.
Here are some ideas and ways you can “parent” that inner child now in your adult life:
Writing letters or cards to yourself, sending yourself flowers, and looking at photos of yourself can all help to cultivate self-love and self-compassion.
Going to therapy can also be incredibly helpful in identifying and working through emotional triggers and patterns.
Inner child meditation and breathwork can be great practices for connecting with your emotions and building self-awareness.
Guided journaling and asking yourself how you really feel each morning can also help you to tune into your emotions and understand what may be causing them.
Mirror work can be a powerful practice for building self-love and acceptance, and going out and playing can be a great way to release stress and reconnect with your inner child.
Giving yourself the gift of doing the things you didn’t get to do as a child. Taking yourself to places, on vacations, or participate in activities you were not able to. Even buying yourself the presents you always wanted and never received.
Showing up for yourself and tending to the ways you did not have security, support of the ways to express yourself as a child.
Keep exploring and experimenting with different practices and modalities to find what works best for you. Remember to be patient and gentle with yourself, and celebrate the progress you make along the way.
