Survivors of child abuse didn’t explore the landscape of childhood; they hunted for paths that might avoid land mines of harm. Whether they tip-toed with caution or brought their guns of anger, their primary focus was getting through another day. Secrets and survival were the guiding forces. Personal growth was the friend you didn’t bring home.
Back then, the child-we-were didn’t have a parent who could help us become our full potential. But, today, we can become that caring, empowering adult for the child that still lives within us… who is still a voice in our head as we make choices. By connecting to that part of ourselves we can transform their experience and, that will change how we feel today.
This isn’t about remembering. It’s about using techniques like EFT, Guided Imagery, Journaling, and Hypnotherapy to deeply ‘be’ that child once again so he/she can be as much a part of our days as the other people in our lives. When we connect at this level, we not only learn what they need, know, and feel, we gain tremendous insight into what shaped our view of the world and how we fit.
Then we can nurture, encourage, celebrate, and guide, giving this child what he/she didn’t have growing up. We can do this time and time again, with different ages, until we have an army of inner-children who helped us survive. And each time, we can honor them for all their choices. We can appreciate the many ways they helped us get through the war of our childhood so we would have the chance to explore our possibilities in peace.