Preserving your inner child: why is it important?
(OMTimes | Nicole Boyer) Some people don’t understand the difference between being an adult and preserving your inner child. They think that anything that has to do with childhood has no space in the life of a grown-up. They might even think that people will make fun of them if they do otherwise.
But they couldn’t be more wrong. Taking good care of your inner child is something that will bring you so much in return. When you finally do it, you will be upset for not having started doing it before.
What is your inner child?
First of all, it is important that you understand what your inner child is. It is a term that comes from the archetypal Jungian notion of the puer aeternus (male) or puella aeterna (female); the part within us that refuses to grow up. It relieves all pleasures and fears that you experienced during childhood. Like a good child, it shows up to speak its mind whenever it seems fit.
Most of us are not aware of it, not until someone points out that we are childish in a bad way. Still, we tend to deny it and get angry to who have said that instead of having a thorough examination of our own behavior. But, above all, we never seem to recognize when the good side of our inner child comes to play.
So why it is important to preserve your inner child?
You probably have started to understand why it is so crucial preserving your inner child. There are two sides of this story, and both are related to a healing process.
You will learn what you need to improve
If you give your inner child some attention, you will start to understand what it has to say to you. It is a part of you trying to shout its way until your mind, and you have been ignoring it. But it knows some things about one side of you that you don’t, so rest assured that you are missing important lessons when you don’t listen and learn from it.
You will be able to deal with it better
You know what happens when you try to ignore a child. It will start to behavior badly just to get your attention. And as you don’t spend much time with it, you will have no idea how to turn the situation in your favor.
However, if you decide to put your inner child in the center of your life sometimes, you will give it a sense of belonging and acceptance. On the other hand, you will be able to learn the best way to transform you frustrated inner child into a happy one.
You will heal the wounds of your past
You might have suffered during your childhood. It might be from abuse to a small frustration; it doesn’t matter. When we are children, we tend to see things with brighter colors as we don’t understand much of what is going on. So, the pain feels much bigger and deeper. And it last longer because you can’t really address it. You might carry it as a big open wound throughout your adult life, transforming it into psychological and physical illnesses of many types.
Getting in touch with your inner child and telling it that everything is OK now, that the danger is long gone, and that there isn’t anything to be scared about might be all that you need to overcome several conditions. Depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, obesity, and many other conditions can be related to not taking good care of your inner child.
You will have more fun
There are many things that you can receive from preserving your inner child. And one of them is rediscovering how to have fun. And it will not be like taking a hobby because it will help you to improve your career by developing your soft skills. It will be just because you enjoy it, period.
Unfortunately, when we grow up, we tend to forget the value of a laugh, a walk in the park, reading a book, or drawing something on the wall. And we all know how all of it helps children and adults to have a better quality of life. So, you should spend spare some time to play with your inner child, and you will see how it will be good for you.
You will rediscover your passions
One of the most common causes of unhappiness is not knowing what we love. It sounds weird to say it, but we all have been there or know someone who is feeling hopeless and with no goals.
It is that state when you wake up and have no idea why you must leave the bed. You might be working on a job that you hate, or dragging a relationship long dead just because you can’t see anything getting better than it.
But, inside of you, your inner child holds all the answers that you need. It can help you to bring back to your memory all those things that excited you before. It knows your plans and how you would make them come true. And, above all, it believes that you can do it no matter what.
The takeaway of preserving your inner child
Preserving your inner child is part of a journey of self-discovery that will improve your life. It can be a long and painful process, have no doubt. There might be tears, but there will also be many laughs. But soon there will be more laughs than tears. You will be happy to have made peace with that long forgotten part of your mind.
About the author
Nicole Boyer is graphic/web designer and contributing blogger for several websites. She is tech-savvy, health-conscious and believes that together people can make this world a better place.
Source: OMTimes
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