How to Heal Your Inner Child

Your inner child is defined in popular psychology as an individual’s childlike subpersonality. This does not mean acting childish but rather connecting with the child within you that holds the original version of yourself.

Have you ever paid attention to the voice within your head? Is it the one that makes you think of your younger self? We all carry our younger selves with us daily, no matter how old we get. When our dearest friend doesn’t answer the phone, our devastated 5-year-old self may emerge, or our bewildered 15-year-old self may occur when a colleague disagrees with an idea we propose. Inner child work is all about looking after this younger version of ourselves.

The inner child often conducts many aspects of one’s childhood. This includes happy moments, sadness, traumatic situations, and unresolved conflicts of an individual’s past.

Canadian psychoanalyst Eric Berne coined the term inner child. It’s a term often used in therapy to help people dig deep into their childhood to discover and heal the underlying conditions of their current struggles.

Everything else in life becomes more apparent when you understand why you are the way you are. For example, it would help if you began to understand why you react a certain way in particular situations, why you may have co-dependent relationships, or a strong desire…