Summary
The concept of the inner child in psychology presents a complex and often uncomfortable reflection on personal growth and emotional well-being. It suggests that within each adult lies a version of their younger selves, including a confused teenager or a hurt child, whose unresolved issues can lead to ongoing psychic distress. These inner children, often neglected and locked away, continue to exist and influence adult behavior, manifesting as feelings of loneliness, shame, or distress.
Addressing the inner child requires a process known as re-parenting, where adults must nurture and comfort their younger selves. This involves recognizing the pain and struggles of these inner children and providing the empathy and kindness they lacked during formative years. By engaging in this compassionate self-dialogue, individuals can alleviate the burdens of their past, leading to emotional healing and a more stable present. The practice encourages adults to treat their inner children with the same care and understanding they would offer to actual children, fostering a sense of liberation and emotional balance.
Show Notes
All of us have over the years made efforts to become adults, it can be at once grating and dispiriting to be told that there might, nevertheless, be an ‘inner child’ still lodged somewhere within us, holding us back.
Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/GVIZL
Be more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/D7hjI
FURTHER READING
You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/3JFHf1M
“One of the more consistently confronting and at times embarrassing concepts that psychology forces us to consider is that of an ‘inner child.’ All of us have along the years made such efforts to become adults, it can be at once grating and dispiriting to be told that there might, nevertheless, be an ‘inner child’ still lodged somewhere within us. But in truth, we contain within ourselves a version of all the people we have ever been. There is, in recessive form, somewhere in the folds of our natures, a confused teenager, a sad child, a jealous or hungry infant. No version of us entirely disappears, it is merely added to and buttressed, just like an oak tree that still contains, in its rings, the marks of all its former circumferences…”
MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE
Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself
SOCIAL MEDIA
Feel free to follow us at the links below:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/
X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/
LinkedIn: ttps://www.linkedin.com/company/the-school-of-life-for-business/
CREDITS
Produced in collaboration with:
Deanca Renysata https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNIAeV1uBPI
Title animation produced in collaboration with
Vale Productions https://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from The School of Life
Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://www.theschooloflife.com/the-school-of-life-youtube/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=Who%20are%20the%20loveliest%20people%20in%20the%20world?
When we next catch ourselves going on a bit too long on a topic – or, to put it bluntly ‘ranting’ – we should dare to ask ourselves where our behaviour is coming from.Uploaded 07-06-17Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/lZqPoBe more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/MYgQw FURTHER READING “One of the risks of social life is that we will in the course of an evening or in the kitchen at a party end up trapped with a person of excessive conviction or, to put it more colloquially, a bore. Bores can be found harbouring any manner of obsessions: they may be deeply concerned...” You can read more on this and other subjects here: https://goo.gl/hCCbyl MORE SCHOOL OF LIFE Watch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLself SOCIAL MEDIA Feel free to follow us at the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITS Produced in collaboration with: Direction and animation: Lee Arkapaw and Tessa ChongSound Design: Alister Mew #TheSchoolOfLife Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Many of us are walking around with an enormous secret burden: we deeply hate ourselves. That makes us very suspicious of anyone who likes us - and prone to staying in unfortunate romantic and professional situations that offer us far less than we deserve. We need to learn the art of becoming a better friend to ourselves.Uploaded 27-11-19Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://t.ly/jrKqRBe more mindful, present and inspired. Get the best of The School of Life delivered straight to your inbox: https://t.ly/E-biDThe School of Life runs a global online psychotherapy service that assists clients from over 40 countries. To find out more and book a session today, please visit our website: https://t.ly/xP3ELFURTHER READINGYou can read more on this and other subjects here: https://bit.ly/2QWdtv0“There is one particularly salient question we should ask in order to measure our levels of emotional well-being: do you broadly feel that you have the right to exist and are, on balance, a good enough human being? Or, whatever your outward circumstances and achievements, do you generally feel you are a piece of excrement, who has only got through life by deluding others (who would quickly abandon you if they knew even a fraction of the truth about you) and, because you are a liar, are only ever one or two steps away from deserved humiliation and catastrophe?...”MORE SCHOOL OF LIFEWatch more films on SELF in our playlist: http://bit.ly/TSOLselfSOCIAL MEDIAFeel free to follow us at the links below:Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theschooloflifelondon/ X: https://twitter.com/TheSchoolOfLife Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theschooloflifelondon/ CREDITSProduced in collaboration with: Noelle Smith Designhttp://www.noellesmithdesign.com/ Title animation produced in collaboration withVale Productionshttps://www.valeproductions.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The human mind between the ages of one and ten is infinitely attuned to its environment. A somewhat cold forbidding father or an erratic mother really may be all that are required to breed an elevated degree of anxiety or self-hatred that colours the next eight decades.
Enjoying our Youtube videos? Get full access to all our audio content, videos, and thousands of thought-provoking articles, conversation cards and more with The School of Life Subscription: https://www.theschooloflife.com/the-school-of-life-youtube/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=On%20Feeling%20Obliged%20