How to reconnect with your inner child?

[Shaul]

Just finished reading "The little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and boy it touched me deeply. Coming from a dysfunctional family, I had a rough childhood which made me to mature fast. As a result, I feel disconnected from my inner child.

How do you regain the ability to see the world in all its magical wonderment and the playful attitude to life that kids possess?

 

 

[Guest EmptyVase]

By learning how to listen to what your feeling tells you.

A part of you is your inner child. And as it is a part of you, it is always with you, always a part of the whole of you, but never apart. As it is always with you, it always speaks to you. In order to decode the language, you need to understand what the message behind your emotions is. Decoding is not a mental activity (such as solving a mathematical formula), but the process of feeling within.

[Bob Seeker]

Part of it is feeling the urge to play just for the sake of playing and following it. Charlie talks about it here and recommends an exercise by Carl Jung:

 

[Farnaby]

All of the above is good advice. Ultimately, the "inner child" is just a concept, a thought story. It doesn't really exist.

It can be useful to understand your patterns and develop compassion and love for yourself though, but don't get too hang up on it. 

My advice is to focus on doing that which brings you joy, peace, feelings of "adventure"/excitement, learning new skills, etc.

Notice what blocks accessing these experiences, have compassion towards it, but push yourself out of your comfort zone a bit every day.

That will probably make that "inner child" happy.