How to Connect with Your Inner Child using S.H.I.F.T.

You may be wondering about how you can connect with your inner child. For a start, you may even have some doubts about the idea of having a wounded inner child. After all, it is not like the inner child is a being that you can actually see or hear externally. Let alone one that is wounded. How, then, do you connect with your inner child, if you are interested to heal aspects about your childhood? 

Well….it is true that you can’t actually see your inner child with your naked eye. It may even feel like you are playing pretend when you close your eyes and attempt to see your inner child. Yet, just because you can’t see something with opened eyes does not mean that it does not exist. For example, just because you can’t see electricity does not mean that it is not working in the background when you turn the lamp on. 

Everyone has an inner child whether they realise it or not. The idea of having an inner child comes from the psychiatrist Carl Jung, who described a child archetype in his work. The inner child is said to have the qualities of innocence, playfulness, and creativity, along with hope for the future. The inner child can also be a source of strength, since early experiences can play a significant part in your development into adulthood. 

But what if the opposite is true?
What if you encountered negative experiences that prevented you from having a happy childhood?
What if the past left you feeling vulnerable, hurt, scared and alone?
Instead of being in a healthy energetic state, your inner child could be wounded. Thus, when childhood experiences negatively affect you, your inner child may continue to carry these wounds until you work on healing. 

My recommendation is to suspend doubt and simply allow answers to arise for inner child work. While it is a fact that the past no longer exists, the inner child is still alive inside you. Sometimes, the inner child may take charge over your adult self especially when you get triggered. It is when you get emotionally reactive and you find yourself reacting from a wounded space. 

Your inner child exists as an energetic form inside your mind. She resides within your subconscious memory. Chances are, you have put her wounds aside in order to function in the world. Yet, she lets you know that she is needing attention by surfacing her issues from long time ago. 

Hence, in order to reach your inner child, you need to create the access subconsciously through your mind’s eye. Some people are able to access their subconscious mind a lot more easily than others. But I’d like to believe that everyone is capable of accessing their subconscious consciously. Giving yourself the chance to relax for deep-level access and trusting yourself intuitively can help a lot! 

S.H.I.F.T. For Inner Child Healing 

For Inner Child Healing, I came up with the S.H.I.F.T. framework so that you can easily remember the steps on what to do. 

S – See your inner child through your mind’s eye. Suspend doubt and simply allow your inner child to present in front of you. 
H – Hold a safe space for her. Be warm and inviting, rather than be suspicious or even judgmental of her. 
I – Identify her feelings and sensations. Ask her to name the emotions she is having and the sensations in her energetic body. 
F – Find out what her beliefs and needs are. Determine what conclusions or beliefs she made about herself and the world and what needs were missing for her. 
T – Take appropriate actions to help her resolve her issues. Ask her what she needs from you right now. For instance, if she is believing that she is unlovable, what does she need from you to let her know that she is lovable. Alternatively, how best can you assure her that she is loved for what she is? 

Hope you find the above tips helpful! 

Learn more about how S.H.I.F.T for Inner Child Healing works by checking out my Self-Love Reparenting starter course. Alternatively, if you need more personal guidance on connecting with your inner child, reach out for a discovery call to find out more about working together. 

Love and Abundance Always, 
Evelyn Lim
Self-Love Reparenting Coach

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