Has anyone ever told you to stop acting like a child? Psychology says, it isn’t unnatural for us to respond like a child in certain situations – since all of us, adults, have a child within us. Most people may not be aware of it, but it is a part of who we are.
Perhaps this year, you’ve begun a more mindful self-assessment. You may have wondered why you can sometimes have childish outbursts in stressful situations. In the past, you might have dismissed them as a typical reaction to challenging events, or a response to triggers of the current environment you were in.
Sometimes, there will be situations where you find yourself acting like a hurt, insecure child, and you wonder how to overcome it. The answer can be found in healing the inner child within us.
At the surface, it seems pretty harmless to harbor a child within us. But that inner child is not always there to remind us of our fondest childhood memories.
Many of us experienced trauma, pain, and/or neglect no matter how healthy and happy our childhood was. It is not limited to those who experienced major traumas like abuse, family breakup, and other tragic events. Memories might get buried, but the feelings harbored by a wounded children can still affect how we go about our dealings in our adult life.
A child who never got to express her disappointment when her parents refused to take her to an art competition she wanted to join grew up and still hold on to that defining moment in her life where the one she trusted the most to support her failed her.
Unknowingly, this is the reason she doubts herself a lot, and at times that unhealed inner child is causing a strain in her relationship with her parents now as an adult.
Even her parents’ well-meaning advice when it is contrary to her desires only sounds like stones thrown intentionally to make her feel bad. It is that vulnerable wounded inner child acting out, not the reasonable adult that she is now.
When a child experiences emotional injuries, no matter how minor they may be, wounds are formed and they must be healed.
Unfortunately, not all the time do these childhood wounds get the healing they need. Not all the time does their own parent or someone is able to take the necessary steps to lessen the damage inflicted by an event or a situation.
When left unaddressed, we carry these on as we grow up and can cause harmful behaviors in adulthood including self-defeat, self-harm, passive-aggressive behavior, and even violence.
Our inner child who may have taken the brunt effects of disappointments and trauma can resurface when stressful situations arise.
Have you ever found yourself reacting negatively like a child denied something nice, instead of facing a challenge proactively? Have you ever assessed your reactions and cringe at the memory of your childish outbursts due to a work setback, or a relationship issue? Perhaps you feel “But how do I overcome these reactions? They seem to come naturally.”
If you are constantly struggling with these emotions, you can take a step back and review if you’re exhibiting signs that your inner child needs healing.
Signs that someone has unresolved inner child issues also include (but are not limited to) lack of self-esteem, eating disorders, poor body image, identity problems, rebellious behavior, commitment issues, intimacy problems, general fear of trusting oneself and other people, and even addiction. Through healing the inner child, these feelings and behaviors can be eliminated.
Inner Child Healing Through Reiki and Intuitive Energy Healing
Healing the wounds of our inner child requires meeting its needs – to be loved and nurtured. But the question is how can we do it? As with everything, it starts within oneself. It can begin with self-care. Meditation can help, talking to your inner child can do wonders, but not everyone knows how to meditate and not everyone is comfortable with talking with an imaginary version of a younger self.
Experts say that you have to relive and re-experience your childhood traumas with the aid of a professional to fully heal your wounded child inside.
Reiki treatments provide a relaxed way to reconnect your adult self with the inner child and heal childhood trauma that still affects your day-to-day (i.e.prone to making fear-based choices, exercising self-limiting beliefs, not standing up for yourself when necessary, etc.).
Reiki allows the loving and healing energy to flow into you and your inner child, and releases trapped negative energies like fears, anger, suppressed emotions, and worries. By filling your body with safe, pure, and clean healing energy, your inner children gets the love, compassion, and nurture it needs.
Doing so will help heal old wounds, allowing you to move forward without the excess baggage of the past that keeps you from living your life to the fullest. For deeper wounds or childhood trauma, Intuitive Energy Healing sessions I offer may be more appropriate as it works on more specific issues and much more powerfully than Reiki alone. Side note: you can think of Reiki as something a GP (General Practitioner) could offer and Intuitive Energy Healing is done by a specialist in the particular field.
The time to heal is now. Time does not always heal old wounds. It only makes you a little numb for a while, but that hurt inner child will always be there affecting what you think and do without you being aware of it. Let the healing process begin. Start improving your well-being and your relationship with others. It’s better now than never.
