One of the most powerful trauma healing methods we can use in our recovery is learning to work with our inner child. As adults, we still have our inner child, or our childhood self, within us. All of the pain we experienced when we were younger is still part of us, and to heal and move forward, sometimes the best thing we can do is look back at this pain in order to reconcile it. What happened to you as a child? What traumas and losses did you sustain? How did they make you feel? How did you respond? Did you bury your trauma deep down within you and become silent? Did you lash out at the people around you? Did you turn to unhealthy behaviors to cope? All of our pain and our responses to our pain gets stored within us. Our subconscious mind is known as our emotional mind. It is where our emotional programming is processed. Our memories and wounds are stored there. To heal our emotions, we must go deeper than our conscious thinking minds and explore the things that have been programmed in our subconscious, often since childhood. How do you respond to triggers now? Are they similar or different from those you had as a child? Are there residual emotions you’re holding onto from your childhood experiences? Chances are you’re experiencing life and responding to it very similarly to how you did when you were younger. We continue our emotional patterns often for most of our lives, until we become conscious of them. Asking ourselves these questions helps us to explore our patterns and emotional responses and helps us get to the root of our pain. Talk to your inner child. Tell her it is safe to let go of the pain she’s been holding onto all these years. Tell her she is protected. Once you’ve been able to connect with your inner child, you might find that your emotions start pouring out of you. Everything you’ve been holding onto and burying might start to get released. This can be scary and overwhelming, but it’s totally normal. Allow yourself to feel your emotions. Seek out the support of a therapist or spiritual guide. Keep connecting with your inner child as you’re working your recovery program. When we felt abandoned as children, that fear of abandonment can stay with us. Give yourself the love, attention, comfort and reassurance you might have been missing as a child. Keep her in your heart as you heal and confront your childhood fears and pain.
We offer multiple kinds of therapy as part of our addiction treatment programs.
Call 1-888-986-7848 for more information.
