How to Connect With Your Inner Child [Transcript]
As adults, we typically don’t think about how our experiences as a child affect us in the present day. Generally, when we are feeling triggered or anytime we are feeling emotionally reactive to things, it usually stems from a childhood wound. On top of that, many of the things that bring us joy as adults are usually really rooted in things that brought us joy when we were kids. Understanding this part of you is an important step in making your present life as an adult not only a lot more enjoyable but also less reactive.
Environment Affects Our Experience
Research shows that our environment when we were kids really laid the foundation for how we grow up and mature as adults. I am sure you noticed that kids really are like sponges and they soak up everything around them to really understand the world and learn about how they fit into that world. We know that all humans are imperfect. It should be understood that if you think you had the “picture perfect childhood” on paper, it is almost guaranteed that there were at least a few, if not many needs that were left unmet when you were a kid. Knowing that this is something that we all have, you don’t need to feel alone. When we really begin to understand this, it can be less threatening and scary to learn about parts of ourselves that we might not like and we want to actually heal that.
Reconnect to What Makes You Happy
Reconnecting with your childhood can also bring a lot of positives in your life because it can give you some really big clues as to how you can bring more joy into your life. As adults, it’s really easy to get caught up in this mundane routine. Especially now that as adults we have more responsibilities on our plate, there are a lot more things to check off on our “to do list”. So, because of this, many people lose sight of what makes them happy or even what interests them outside of work and their responsibilities. Society also tends to condition us to follow these “appropriate ways” of feeling an emotional reaction to something. It could be someone you are having a conversation with or a situation around you that makes you feel emotionally reactive. Observing when and what is causing your reactivity is a really great way to get in touch with an old childhood wound or an emotional wound that you may want to look at.
Reflect on Childhood Experiences
The second tip is to think about what you were like as a child. This may seem like an obvious tip but really set aside time to journal, reflect or meditate on what you were like as a kid. Some questions that you could ask yourself are what made me happy as a child? What made me sad? Were there certain disturbing situations or even happy situations that I think about a lot? Going back and thinking about these things can create more joy or empathy in your adult life today with the information you find.
Empathize with your Inner Child
Getting in touch with your inner child may bring up a lot of emotions. Maybe you didn’t have the best childhood, so going back to that may be scary or seem pointless. We can’t change the past, but we can look to the past to bring us a better understanding of how we can show up for ourselves in the present day. How can you bring more empathy or joy into our life? It is really important to remind yourself that as an adult, we really have the freedom and opportunity to repair ourselves. It’s important to validate the inner child in all of us to get the needs that we didn’t receive when we were younger. A lot of us forget that we have the freedom to do that today.
Watch: Using Your Attachment Style to Recognize Patterns in Relationships
Thank you so much for listening to this video and learning more about this topic. I would love to hear your thoughts and comments about this so please make sure to comment and share below. If you want more information on this topic and other topics on mental health, you can check out our website.
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1 comment
This is so great, Jenna! I love the idea of not only reconnecting with your inner child but providing some compassion for the child that may have had some difficult experiences that are impacting us as adults. For me, I try to be mindful in those moments where I feel true joy as a way to understand what is bringing those feelings to my life in order to try to recreate that as often as possible.