Reparenting Our Inner Child

How do we talk to our Inner Child? Imagination and gentle kindness. The one thing a child understands more than anything, is imagination. We must use our own to pretend that we are talking to a tiny version of ourselves. I have found it helpful during heightened emotional responses. First, we can use our imagination at these times to understand our emotional involvement in the situation in question. This can connect the dots for us in a way that no one else could do for us. We know ourselves and the younger version of ourselves better than anyone. We know what we were thinking, saying and doing. We understand that we might not have always taken the best course of action for ourselves.

So how do we begin? Addressing our Inner Child by its name… your own name, with “my Inner Child” at the beginning, is a great place to start. We may likely discover that our Inner

Child is most often concerned with basic survival and basic needs. So if you ask your Inner Child, “what is bothering you?“ And the response is (your inner voice…the thoughts that are in your head at that time), “I’m hungry and I’m feeling so angry”, you will begin to understand some of the needs that we as adults do not always tend to as they come up. We may ask our Inner Child “why are you feeling afraid?” This is a great one when we are feeling afraid. In this case, the answer may be more complex. But normally, it won’t come out on the first try. We will need to ask the question over and over until we get deep enough to uncover gold. This is how children come to understand their worlds. If you have ever encountered a child, asking the repeated question “why?”, you will understand. When we are ready to dismantle the thoughts and feelings that block us from becoming the best version of ourselves, taking this route of going deep and being gentle with ourselves will surely rocket us out of our past and into our Present.

~Janice M. Burke

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