Our Wounded Inner Child

Most of us are walking around with a wounded inner child inside of us.

This part of our psyche was formed when we were developing as children and our emotional needs were not met.

There is no blame in this fact. Even the most well-intentioned caregivers are generally unable to know and meet all of the needs of the children in their care.

For some of us, if our emotional needs aren't met as children, we internalize this in order to make sense of it.

Unable to understand the limitations of the adults around us, we believe that we must be flawed or unlovable.

We grow into adults who don't feel safe. We become hyper-vigilant and scared.

We may feel that people, and the world, are unpredictable and dangerous.

Our inner child wounds can't heal until we acknowledge them and tend to them. We do this by giving ourselves the love, nurturing, soothing and acceptance that we subconsciously feel we missed as a child.

While it is crucial to acknowledge the wounded inner child in ourselves, it is also important to recognize that almost every person you meet, is holding one as well.

Once we become compassionate to the wounded version of ourselves, it becomes easier to be less judgmental and more understanding of those around us.