BLOG - Inner Child Work Part 3

Inner Child Work - Part Three

Hello there! Here is the final part of my blog about how doing Inner Child work can transform your life.

Let’s make a start by taking a first look at the four stages of development that occur between birth and about 12 years.

  •  Infant: birth to 1 year
  • Toddler: 1 year to 3 years
  • Pre-School: 3 years to 5 years
  • School Age: 5 years to 12 years

(People are all different, so these age ranges are only a guide.)

For each of these stages of development, there are things you need to learn in order to move on to the next stage, like building blocks. These things are to enable you to move from your own home out into the wide world safely and confidently when you grow up. And when you complete each stage, you gain a strength which will help you for your whole lifetime. The four strengths related to these stages are

  • hope
  • willpower
  • purpose
  • competence.

The way I like to work with Inner Child concepts – and the way you can use them with my Art Journal Coaching Kit My Inner Child’s Journey - is firstly to examine in detail each of the stages of development so that there is a good understanding of what you did and didn’t accomplish at the time, and what you need to work on now.

Then move on to a truly healing activity which is to write some short letters to and from your Inner Child; to make lovely, uplifting, and encouraging Art Journal pages for every stage; and to explore lots of other activities to continue healing each stage over time. You will be able to use these ideas and techniques for the rest of your life, so the time you spend on this work is a brilliant investment in your long-term well-being and self-care.

I’m not sure where I first discovered this moving poem about working with one’s Inner Child, but I think it paints a vivid emotional portrait of what it’s like to reconnect.

My Child Within: A Poem to the Wounded Child

I found my child within today,

For many years so locked away,

Loving, embracing, needing so much,

If only I could reach in and touch.

 

I did not know this child of mine,

We were never acquainted at three or nine,

But today I felt the crying inside,

I’m here, I shouted, come reside.

 

We hugged each other ever so tight,

As feelings emerged of hurt and fright.

It’s okay, I sobbed, I love you so!

You are precious to me, I want you to know.

 

My child, my child, you are safe today,

You will not be abandoned, I’m here to stay.

We laughed, we cried, it was a discovery,

This warm loving child is my recovery.

by Kathleen Algoe

This poem is a powerful description of the journey you will take reconnecting with your Inner Child. Be brave! Profound healing and deep joy await you.

The only person you are destined to become

is the person you decide to be.

– Ralph Waldo Emerson

So even if you didn’t have a good start in life, you can still have a good finish! Complete your past and give yourself a future. You deserve it.

I hope you choose to do some Inner Child work, either with me in person or with my Art Journal Coaching Kit My Inner Child's Journey - click here for more details!