If you’ve read my books, you know that when I have a life experience that I think might be helpful to someone else, I usually share it.

I had one of those experiences yesterday that has to do with my inner child. For those of you not familiar with this concept, I and many others believe that there is a child within all of us. If that child is healthy and happy, you don’t have to worry about the child causing problems in your life. You’ll experience life through their eyes often as fun, playful, colorful, exciting.

If the child still has issues from childhood that need healing, that inner child can cause all kinds of havoc in your adult life.

I cover the Inner Child extensively in my NEW BOOK (no, not Look for the Good and You’ll Find God). My brand new book just out now in the stores called My Big Book of Healing. In my work as a psychic and healer, too often I’ve seen the un-healed wounds of a clients inner child at the core of their physical and emotional problems and I believe that addressing those issues are really important to their healing process.

There is one sure fire way to detect if you are reacting from a wounded inner child or if the issue is more adult based. When you are going through an emotional issue, the key is to ask yourself how old do you feel? Our answers can be very surprising.

Here’s an example from a current life experience:

Yesterday I found out some very disturbing news about someone in my life. Someone that I trusted not to betray me……………but they did. I felt pretty devastated last night and kept telling myself to look for the good in the situation so that I could learn from it and move on. I hated lingering in the sadness.

The adult part of me wanted to lash out but I knew it wouldn’t accomplish anything. All day today, I just wanted to get away from the sadness but no matter how I was dealing with it intellectually, it just sat there like a hard rock in my stomach. I couldn’t cry. I kept clearing myself but the sadness just sat there.

Tonight it dawned on me to ask myself how old I was feeling and my immediate answer was 5 years old. The light bulb went on and I realized it was my inner child that was feeling so wounded. I got out my journal and asked her to tell me how she was feeling about all of this and she had quite a bit to say. Betrayal was the word that kept coming up. Feeling betrayed by someone she has always felt loved by and safe with. That’s what that horrible feeilng in the pit of my stomach has been all day. Feeling like I’m five and not understanding why that person would lie to me or chose to hurt me as bad as they did. That’s the sadness. It’s that simple.

So what I will do now is reassure her that I will never let that person hurt her again and I’ll stay very conscious of her feelings over the next few days and give her the reassurance that she needs. My inner child has a tendency to think she did something wrong when most of the time, she had nothing to do with it. The hurt that comes from others usually has to do with their un-resolved issues. She’s a tough little kid but she also needs lots of love and patience and that I can give her. We have the next few days off, so we’ll play and I’ll reassure her that the world is not an awful place.

So what about you? Do you a nagging hurt sitting inside the pit of your stomach about anything? Do you have a situation going on in your life that causes you to react like a child?

The good news is that WE can do something about these hurts now. We are no longer children. We’re adults and we can give them the nurturing, attention and reassurance they are looking for.

Don’t dismiss that sweet inner child. They’re always there. And it’s up to us now to give them what they need.

Over the next few days, get out and enjoy that sweet childlike part of you. Go sledding (my bones just groaned). Okay, for those of us 60 and older, maybe a cup of hot chocolate would be better. Do something fun. Laugh. Be silly. Ask your inner child what they would like to do on these days off. You might be very surprised at the anwers you get.

Happy New Year every one. It’s gonna be a rockin’ year to say the least. And if you’re not busy on Sunday nights from 6:00-7:30 pm Central Time, tune into www.blogtalkradio.com/thejoycafe. I am co-hosting a new show on the internet with my dear friend Shannon Faulkes. We do readings on the air and have a blast.

Join us if you can. Stay safe and warm.

Talk to you next year,

Echo

ps. hello to my good friend John D. down in Tuscon. Happy New Year John. Keep those postcards comin’