Let Your Inner Child Lead You To Conscious Living

The phone rings. It is a client enrolled in my 90-day program, calling to do her weekly session. I greet her and inquire how her week has gone?

With slight agitation she replies, “Not well!” I have had this edge all week. I can’t relax. Feeling serene is a joke. I feel this rebellion inside – some part of me is kicking and screaming.”

“Have you asked her what she is angry about?”

“She isn’t talking to me! She doesn’t want to have anything to do with me or this program. She doesn’t see the benefit of it! “

In typical fashion I encourage her to tune into this part of herself and listen to what she has to say.

She pauses, takes a deep breath and begins to speak from this voice within her with the sarcasm only a teenager can exhibit. “I don’t like this program. So what is this – you get healthy and spiritual and then sit around all day and do what – talk to God! That sounds like a blast! Where’s the fun in that? I’m bored. I want to have some fun! I want to go have a piece of chocolate cake!” I am sick and tired of exercising and eating all of these stupid vegetables! Where’s the sugar! Where’s the Wheat?” Where’s the beef?”

Many relate to this voice. There is something exhilarating about pushing that edge and then laughing about the ridiculousness of it! Fun and relaxation become associated with doing something “bad!” But when do these activities become destructive?

The answer is simple. We act in excessive and destructive ways when we are out of balance and our child within seeks to restore the equilibrium through the relaxation of play. The challenge is to heed the signs of their distress call and invite our child within to play in a way which nourishes our entire being?

So how can we accomplish this feat? First of all, it is useful to expand the concept of the inner child to one which acknowledges we have more than one child within. The kind of fun and relaxation your inner teen wants to have and the definition of being relaxed as seen through the eyes of your younger selves is quite different.

We all have that divine, innocent and carefree part of us who experiences joy by simply being allowed to stand in a state of awe. This inner child is forever caught in that state of wonder which can only come from a total abandonment of worrying about the past or incessantly planning for the future. He or she finds fun in action… in running, jumping, exploring! The infant self may find pleasure in the simple art of exploration. The toddler within revels in the glory of a newly mastered physical feat, whereas your inner three-to-six year old experiences delight when given the freedom to follow the threads of curiosity and unearth anything new and previously undiscovered.

Your six-to-twelve-year old, on the other hand, will feel nourished when play and relaxation involves others. They yearn for social activity. They may feel exhilarated when playing on a soft ball team, a bowling league or engaging in some group project. This inner teen engages in social activities as well, but often within the context of self-definition. Their fun involves any activity which allows them to pursue their individuality – be it sports, shopping at the mall or participating in a book club. All of the above are signs of having integrated your inner child and play into your life in a vital and viable manner. They sustain balance and support integration.

The disgruntled inner child grabs center stage to show us when we are out of balance. If you find yourself wanting to rebel and go out and have fun in a way which will have consequences which you do not want to incur I suggest you pause for a moment. Take a deep breath and examine what parts of your life are out of balance. Tune within and engage your inner child in conversation. Irrespective of the age – invite him or her to speak its truth. This simple dialogue will give your adult self the information needed to come back into alignment.

Your inner child does not begrudge your having to work; your pursuit towards health or even your spiritual path. He or she simply wants to be invited into your life. Get out of your head and take time to notice – notice everything around you! This is “conscious living” and when you engage in “conscious living” you involve your inner children in healthy play.

WHAT IS INNER CHILD/SOUL WORK?

We already know what happened to us in our childhood affects what we can accomplish in adulthood. What is not being acknowledged is the fact that what happened to us in other dimensions of time, in other lifetimes, in other realities, affects us as well.

Evidence of these long forgotten events can be found in the dysfunctional patterns we develop in childhood which, not only manifest as maladaptive blueprints in adulthood, but also emerge as themes our Soul has charted to complete in this lifetime. These themes become apparent as we begin to experience the multidimensional crossovers of past incarnations in which we were either the victims or the perpetrators of wounding acts. Inner Child/ soul Work is following the threads of our wounds from childhood and taking those patterns of behavior back to their original source where they can be identified, resolved and healed in all dimensions of time and consciousness.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I AM ENGAGED IN A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ISSUE THAT WOULD BENEFIT FROM THIS MEHTOD OF RESOLUTION?

When you respond to an experience in your life in a physically, mentally or emotionally reactive manner, and the intensity of your reaction is not founded in any experience you have had in this lifetime, you are engaged in a multidimensional crossover. Most often we interpret these experiences as “over reactions” or “psychotic episodes” because the situation to which we are responding does not warrant the reaction.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS I CAN EXPECT FROM USING THIS MODEL OF HEALING?

Most often individuals experience a clearing of an issue to its roots. If we just focus on present life traumas the root of the issue does not get addressed and the aspect of our soul – where the pattern of dysfunction originated – fails to be rescued and healed.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS WHICH INDICATE THE POSSIBLE NEED FOR THIS WORK.

Have I lost my mind? Why do I get so triggered when he/she has not done anything to deserve this reaction? I have worked and worked on this issue – will it ever get resolved?

To learn more about Inner Child/Soul Work contact me at 612-282-3686 or email me at ctinnerchildwork@aol.com.

More Inner Child books by Cathryn Taylor

If you have ever found yourself overreacting to experiences in ways which seemed unwarranted, this book holds the key. If you are pursuing a spiritual path, yet continue to experience difficulties that challenge your newfound beliefs, this book provides relief. If you are unable to attract meaningful relationships, manifest abundance or find creative lifework, this book can lead you to the antidote, found by exploring the multidimensional caverns of your Soul.

Through anecdotes of others’ healings, as well as her own, Cathryn introduces the ways multidimensional breakthroughs, that is, experiences from our past lives, can color our response to experiences in the present. Through this intensely spiritual work we learn the limits of other more traditional approaches to healing and find relief we may have only dreamed was possible. As Cathryn shares her own engaging story of healing, we are led through her ten-step model for resolution. You’ll find here a powerful approach to healing the wounds revealed by our multidimensional breakthroughs, one that is simple, practical and, above all, effective.

Conscious Aerobic Exercise is a magical vehicle for transformation. It optimizes your workout time and provides the opportunity to reinvent yourself. When movement is combined with focused intention your body, mind, heart and Soul come into alignment. Assistance from your Higher Guidance descends and lends support to your resolving the issues of your personality and Soul thus empowering you to accomplish goals.
A revolutionary program – a step-by-step process which gives your body the opportunity to carry you
from where you are to where you want to be. And once you arrive this innovative, step-by-step formula
holistically takes to there again and again and again!

This dynamic, high-powered formula not only works the first time – it can be used and re-applied time and time again to systematically empower you to continually re-invent yourself as you perpetually update the vision of your future self and progressively redesign your ever-evolving goals.

Inner Child books written by Cathryn Taylor

You have heard about healing the inner child.  Now with this workbook you can write your childhood wrongs!

With the Inner Child Workbook, Cathryn offers you a step-by-step guide to reparenting the children within and healing their shame, anger, and feelings of abandonment.  Using written and verbal exercises, guided imagery, journaling, drawing, mirror work, and rituals you can change your experience of the past today.

For each of the seven stages of childhood, you will follow six steps: identify your pain, research its childhood roots, re-experience the pain, separate from it, grieve the losses of each stage, and ritually release the pain and reclaim the joy of each inner child.

In the end, you will reap the rewards of the wisdom of your true self.  Order the Inner Child Workbook today from Amazon.com.

If you have ever suffered a great loss, this book has a message for you, one you will hold in your heart forever. In this true story the author seeks and learns to embrace the great gifts which await all of us on the other side of grief. From the first page to the last, readers travel with the author on a shamanic journey of power animals, angels, an Indian Chief and Princess, all lending their support for transforming even the most profound loss.

This story begins when Cathryn, an author and teacher, sells everything and starts across country in a small motor home to promote her newly released book. Half way through her journey she discovers that Max, her faithful, canine companion, has a fatal, cancerous tumor. With six months of professional commitments before her she finds herself embroiled in a crisis over which she had no control. And yet, guided by the same dear companion she is losing, she is brought to an expanded vision of life, one that all readers can bring into their own lives. “There were few intermissions—few moments to catch my breath before the next wave of exploration crashed against the shores of my reality. Participating in this process became a vehicle enabling me to reclaim a passion long ago lost. I scaled its cliffs with the precision of a mountain climber, followed the clues like Lewis and Clark, healing the wounds of present and past, searching for the trail that would help me successfully respond to this crisis…”

WANT TO LIVE LIFE BEYOND YOUR CONFUSION AND FEAR?

Cathryn suggests we are a society in mourning with few adult tools to grieve…”The continual threat of terrorism and war coupled with current stresses of daily life leave us afraid and confused–triggering childhood wounds and adult doubts about our ability to cope. Many of us express this unresolved confusion, fear, grief and tension through compulsive and addictive behaviors.

We may eat too much, drink, drug or smoke too much, love, shop, work, gamble or worry too much. But we begin to live out of fear rather than faith–compulsion rather than choice–isolation rather than unity as we long to anchor our safety into something predictable and secure”

“Our stress,” Cathryn states, “if not resolved, gets expressed through mal-adaptive methods of coping which ultimately reveal themselves in physical ailments or injuries, psychological unrest, spiritual isolation or addictive and compulsive behaviors.”

Cathryn’ s Six-Cycle Model offers a viable and creative way out. She takes addiction beyond the ordinary realm of twelve step meetings and abstinence–suggesting our addictive behaviors are actually gifts from our Soul. She invites readers to embrace what lies underneath their confusion and their fear as she guides them through a process which transforms abandonment to union; anger to empowerment; shame to compassion; loneliness to sacred solitude; betrayal to gratitude and fear to faith.

The Inner Child at Play: A Meditation for Living in the Moment

I believe we each have that divine child within us who holds the spark of our passion – the key to our creativity… that wonderful, magical essence tucked within us who can chart the course to our mastery and fill our hearts with pure joy. It is this I believe we all seek.

Listen. Be quiet for a moment. Take pause. For he or she is calling to you… “Won’t you come out and play.”

Can you hear the sound of the call? Can you reach beyond the distractions of your compulsions and addictions… curtail the search outside of yourself and come home?

Listen to the call. Your inner child’s voice crosses all dimensions of time and space – connects you to your ancestors… to your Elders… to your most authentic self. Can you get quiet enough to hear the invitation to come and play? Your inner children invite you to see the world through their eyes.

Go now – go to that magical place within your mind’s eye. See your inner child – frolicking on the play ground without a care… running aimlessly from the merry-go-round to the swings – then flying down the slide. Remember. Remember when you were that carefree? Breathe deep into that moment and remember. Unleash your spirit and run free. Join your child self and have a moment of play.

What prohibits us from seizing moments such as this as we busy ourselves with worries, goals and intentions which fill our heads and keep us from living consciously in the present? Who inside us is afraid to trust, to run free, to feel joy? Where, along the way, did we abandon our willingness to risk? When did we exchange playing for playing it safe?

If you are human you have experienced pain. If you are human you have responded to that pain. In response to that pain you have constructed your own protective womb – that private place which keeps you safe yet blocks the flow of the divine. As long as you are in your womb and you do not come out to play you will not claim your joy, achieve your goals or successfully do what you came here to do.

Don’t fret with those words. You are entitled to hold onto those treasured, safety measures. But you also have the courage and ability to respond to them. Your fears only deter you in those times when you believe you have nothing inside of you to fight back. But it is in that exact moment of your despair that your inner child stands before you with the invitation to come out and play – to remember – to come back to yourself… to throw caution to the wind and make a fool out of yourself. He or she stands there eager to guide you to a new place within yourself – encourages you to make a choice to stand in health, in abundance and in the glory of the divine.

We spend much of our life looking outside of ourselves for safety, love and trust. Yet, the richest experience of that state rests in our own heart… our own force field… in our connection to our child-like freedom to feel joy.

Go now – go to that magical place within your mind’s eye. Join your inner child – frolic on the play ground without a care… run aimlessly from the merry-go-round to the swings – fly down the slide. Remember. Remember when you were that carefree? Breathe deep into that moment and remember. Unleash your spirit and run free. Join your child self and have a moment of play.

Check out Cathryn’s book entitled SOUL STEPS in which she outlines her unique formula for remembering. Step by step her unique approach invites you to use your body through exercise to ignite the passion in your Soul and reunite with your divine child within. This 90-day program guides you through the voices of your cherished saboteurs… step-by-step… back to your joy…

Buy Soul Steps at Amazon.com

Who is the Inner Child?

The inner child is the representation of our innocence, our potential and all that stands in its way. She holds the spectrum of the most divine within us and the most wounded. He shows us who we can become and the aspects we must heal to get there. She is the part of us that sings a lively rendition of our favorite song when we’re driving down the highway. He’s the voice inside our head that says, “I can do that!”, when we believe we can’t.

Your Inner Child is the kid inside that got yelled at and ridiculed for peeing the bed. She’s the kid that got relentlessly teased at school and was always the last to get picked in gym class. He might be the young boy that was molested by a family member or the little girl that had a heavy handed father.

He is a part of our psyche that remains quietly huddled in a corner of our mind until someone or some event triggers his unforgotten pain and anguish. For many of us, unresolved childhood issues can become debilitating adult patterns. The wounded Inner Child’s knee jerk reaction to the triggers present in adulthood can totally sabotage any efforts we make towards success or growth.

We’re told to “get over it”, “let it go”, but, if the Inner Child is left unheard, sabotage is innevitable. We sit in therapy for years talking all about how horrible it was or we ignore it and become consumed by resentment. Obsessing over and ignoring the past does not serve us. It holds us hostage.

The Inner Child needs to be healed. She needs the love and compassion of an adult. That adult is you. You are the only one that can go inside and heal the child of your past and bring her into your heart. Healing the wounds of your Inner Child brings you into alignment with Source, God, the Universe. Homeostasis is restored. We can move on to achieve our dreams and live in joy and peace.

To learn more about how you can begin healing your Inner Child, visit www.joincathryntaylor.com