| Our inner child contains all our positive and | | | | My father numbed his feelings and pain through |
| negative emotional patterns. He or she lives in our | | | | alcohol. I am grateful I never succumbed to this |
| psyche as the little child we once were. He or she | | | | addiction. I learned from my mother to sacrifice |
| carries the wounds of past trauma. A clue that | | | | and caretake those close to me. I have since |
| our inner child runs our lives emerges in the | | | | learned to nurture myself first although I find |
| patterns of drama and trauma, which keep | | | | myself still challenged, as I tend to take on other |
| reappearing repeatedly in our adult lives. Another | | | | people's energies unaware in my desire to assist |
| clue shows itself if we keep retelling the same | | | | them. |
| story of suffering to others. | | | | I recognize a pattern from my father. I swore as |
| My inner child carries the wounds from growing up | | | | a teenager never to drink, yet gradually over |
| with an emotionally distant father addicted to | | | | seven years I began drinking more and more. |
| alcohol. Yet, I am grateful for him allowing me, at | | | | One day because a new meditation practice |
| the age of ten, to play for two summers with | | | | required I quit I did so for four years and after I |
| my younger brother. We played fantasy cowboy | | | | no longer had a craving for alcohol. It takes great |
| games amongst the groves of maple trees. | | | | will power to break such an addictive pattern. |
| As a man, I never related to my inner child. In | | | | Over thirty years of becoming more aware of |
| fact, I knew nothing about having an inner child. In | | | | my inner pain and trauma, through various energy |
| addition, when I studied psychology at college no | | | | medicine methods and self-discovery I have come |
| one mentioned the inner child at the time. | | | | to terms with the pain and a large amount has |
| Therefore, my inner child remained invisible and | | | | healed. |
| unknown to me until my early forties. My partner | | | | Most of my life my wounded child wanted to |
| at the time told me she had a therapist who | | | | stay angry and rant at the injustices of the world |
| worked with healing her inner child. This and most | | | | or sink into the powerlessness of the victim. I |
| of all the pain of being unable to know and | | | | learned with the help of my wife Lyn, a gifted |
| express my emotions or needs in relationships | | | | energy healer, how to hold the emotions of my |
| motivated me to contact this child. I started by | | | | inner child rather than drowning in them or being |
| reading John Bradshaw's, "Reclaiming and | | | | trapped in anger. |
| Championing Your Inner Child." | | | | I learned to embrace my inner child. By staying |
| A few years later, I began teaching energy | | | | present with the feelings, they began to |
| healing and a method of healing the inner child. At | | | | transform on their own and a peace would fill me. |
| this time, I realized the intensity of pain my inner | | | | I do this more and more now. I choose to take |
| child carried since childhood. | | | | charge rather than allowing my inner child to sit in |
| Over a decade later, my wife, Lyn, assisted me | | | | the driver's seat of the emotional train. When our |
| by refusing to accept being my emotional body. I | | | | inner child heals, we heal. |
| will explain this more. Our inner child connects to | | | | If you choose to heal your inner child, Evelyn Lim, |
| our emotions. I numbed and avoided my emotions | | | | a life coach, writer, NLP practitioner and an |
| for two thirds of my life. Therefore, instead of | | | | Intuitive Consultant describes seven steps: |
| feeling and expressing my emotions, I had my | | | | 1.) Understand Your Childhood Programming. |
| wife do this for me as all my previous female | | | | 2.) Recognize Repeated Life Patterns. |
| partners had done in the past. One day Lyn | | | | 3.) Acknowledge Your Pain. |
| refused to do this. She explained I needed to be | | | | 4.) Disengage in Self-Judgment. |
| responsible for my own feelings. Therefore, I | | | | 5.) Embrace The Wounded Child. |
| accepted and began to express my feelings a bit | | | | 6.) Practice Courage. |
| more. Over time I could identify my feelings more | | | | 7.) Free Yourself Through Forgiveness. |
| readily. How many men like me unconsciously | | | | (c) Copyright - Michael David Lawrience. All Rights |
| have their women carry their emotions for them? | | | | Reserved Worldwide. |
| Today I understand the influence of my childhood. | | | | |