I believe we all have a younger version of ourselves that we carry with us, which many people call an “inner child.” This inner child often carries the hurt and pain from our past that we have not fully processed. They also can carry the parts of us we feel shame about, leading us to avoid our inner child so we don’t have to feel the shame or the pain they feel. We might not even have been aware that they exist. Connecting with our younger self, figuring out what they need, and helping them release all they have been carrying can be very healing. It’s part of the work I do as an intuitive coach.
Another thing to understand about our inner child is that they often want to play and be carefree. By unburdening them with what they have been carrying allows them to express their childlike nature more. And as adults we often lose the ability to play and have fun. Our inner child can help guide us back to the importance of play and pleasure for the sake of pleasure itself.
"My Inner Child Waits for Me" is a poem I wrote about the experience of meeting your inner child for the first time and giving them what they so badly have been needing but not getting, which is often what they needed from others and didn’t get. It’s about the process of reparenting ourselves and learning to love and accept all parts of ourselves, even the parts we might want to avoid or turn away from. This poem is about what happens when we recognize that our inner child is a part of who we are, and that we carry that part with us throughout life and throughout all our relationships. And that they deserve what we deserve - love and compassion.
My Inner Child Waits for Me
My inner child waits for me, impatiently.
I have put off meeting with them, indefinitely.
What is it about them that I have long abandoned their needs?
Is it them or is it me?
Who have I been avoiding?
What have I not been seeing?
I’m hesitant to even attempt to spend the time
Being with anything or anyone that is mine.
My younger self tries to get my attention,
They scream, yell, and cry.
But I hush their many attempts to mention,
The pain that lives inside.
Eventually I grow tired,
Their dysregulation wearing me down.
I hear them yell, “liar!”
When I say this time I’ll hear them out.
But this time isn’t like all the rest,
I finally face what I’ve been running from.
I turn toward them and hold them close to my chest,
And whisper, “I got you little one.”
They collapse into my arms,
Finally receiving exactly what they’ve needed all along.
In the giving of what they didn’t receive before, they become disarmed,
It’s the unconditional love that gives them a place where they belong.
They pull back and look at me,
And I see it in their eyes,
The truth I’ve known somewhere deep down inside.
They are me and I am them,
We were never truly different.
They just carried all the pain that I tried to pretend
Didn’t exist so I could plead fake innocence.
That was never fair to either one of us,
And in doing so I only hurt the both of us.
So I tell them never again.
Never again will I leave you,
Never again will I hurt,
Never again will I abandon you,
From now on I will only love you.
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