Healing Exercise: Dialogue with Your Inner Child
A great way to connect with your inner child is through writing letters back and forth from your adult perspective to your child self and vice versa.
To do this exercise, you will need:
Pen
Paper
Candle (suggestion)
Sit down in a peaceful place. You can do this exercise outside in nature or find a quiet spot in your home. Light a candle before starting if this feels good to you.
Usually when I start this exercise, I know what memory or incident I want to heal from (for example: a specific memory of being bullied in high school). If you are unaware of the exact moment, but know you have some healing to do, I recommend you take a moment and breathe and see what age arises. This may come to you as an image, a memory, or a number. Don’t judge it, just go with it.
Start your letters from your adult perspective and write Dear Little [YOUR NAME]. Then write to your inner child and tell them how much you love them, how safe they are to bring these feelings, memories, etc. that need to be healed to your attention, and that you are here to listen to everything they have to say. Keep writing until you have said everything you want to say to your younger self.
Then on a new piece of paper, write Dear Adult [YOUR NAME]. Then allow yourself to free write to yourself from the perspective of your inner child. Don’t judge what comes up, just allow them to say what they need to say. They may tell you that they’re sad. Or maybe they’re angry. Let them have their time to say what’s been bottled up inside. For people who may have trouble using their imagination for this, I once read that to help you to get out of your head, you could write with your opposite hand (so if you’re right-handed use your left hand) to write the letter as your inner child.
Once your inner child is done saying everything they need to say, take a moment to read both these letters out loud to yourself. It’s powerful to use our voices and to hear with our ears what we are healing from. It can help us to be compassionate with ourselves. Take a moment to sit with these letters.
Then continue writing back and forth with your adult self and your inner child until you feel heard. Allow yourself to tell you what you need to hear. If you need to cry allow yourself to cry. If you feel angry allow yourself to scream into a pillow or hit the Earth with your fists. Allow the feelings to move as you do this exercise.
Once this exercise feels complete, I recommend doing something with these letters. It’s really powerful and helps to move the energy to offer these letters to nature or the elements.
Some suggestions for intentionally moving through this healing are:
Burn the letters (safely)
Rip them up and throw them in a river
Bury them and ask Mother Earth to take this pain from you
If you lit a candle, blow it out after you are done with this exercise as a sign that you are done and ready to move forward.
Sending you all my love!
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