Love and Your Inner Child
This piece was originally published on Hello My Tribe as a three-part series. Continue reading for a guided inner child reflection.
4-year-old Courtney was playful, curious, brave, joyful, and present. I’ve been thinking a lot about her, as I do and teach inner child work, inspired by Louise Hay. I’ve been considering her needs, preferences, quirks, and spirit…
I invite you to imagine yourself as a child.
Whatever image comes to mind first is the right one for this moment. Can you name your inner child’s feelings or personality traits or maybe even requests? If nothing clear is coming up, I invite you to breathe and assure yourself that you are exactly where you need to be in this moment.
As a child, my lens of love was MUCH stronger than the lens of fear. Moreover, during this innocent stage of life, I knew only love. Over time, though, many untrue, learned beliefs began to take over and hide the truth. These beliefs are the manifestations of fear.
Perhaps notions of love or fear permeated your image of yourself as a child. It’s okay to name these sensations; there’s powerful in honoring and owning your experience.
Now, as an adult, I am consciously stripping away the binds that fear has on me; I am being called to quiet my mind so that I can trust my intuition, which I fully believe operates out of love. Consciously stepping into the LOVE > fear mentality is a practice I embark on over and over again, with each new day. Notice how these words land with you.
Removing Fear and Stepping Into Love
Last week, my mom asked me: “Who are some women role models that you consider courageous?” I blurted out what first came to mind: “Mother Teresa. Beyonce. Lots of women authors.”
Mom laughed. Then she said, “You came to mind. You are so brave, Courtney. I think back, and you’ve always stood up for what you believe in.”
I totally cried! (In fact, I am still crying as I type this!)
Yet, I have not always owned it. Instead, I have let stories of fear lead me, and I have gotten lost in false beliefs about my worth.
Can you relate? Have you sometimes allowed fear to take over?
Each day we have an opportunity to step into life with love. We are invited in each new moment to develop our Connected Hearts and to serve ourselves and one another with light. Truly, THIS takes bravery! In a world where intuition, sensitivity, and softness are often seen as weak, we must remember that love reveals our
You have permission to be exactly who you are, whether that be emotional, sensitive, soft, complicated, fierce, angry, anything else, OR a combination of so many of these. Furthermore, this permission to BE you with your whole heart, to return to the freedom and bravery you may have experienced as an innocent child, is your birthright.
Inner child work and talking to my teenage self are practices that help me rewrite my learned, now-default program. Through this work, I am making the decision to step into love, as I shed fear. Love is brave. I welcome freedom, exploration, and joy, as I release anxiety and worry about the past or the future. And this is the bravest work I can do each day!
How do you grow your lens of love? Through this process, how do honor your bravery?
Your Brave Journey
Thank you for walking into this journey of self-discovery and truth-telling with me. As you reflect on your inner child and her gifts and needs, make time and space to Stop. Breathe. Feel. When you become over-stimulated or flooded, take breaks and consider using a mantra or positive affirmation to self-soothe.
The work you are doing as a parent or caregiver provides a model for your child or teen. As you practice self-care and self-love, you teach self-care and self-love.
Your intention to love yourself and return to the curiosity of a child informs the openess through which you receive and respond to your loved ones– children, partners, family, and friends. Indeed, your exploration is nurturing and supercharging the energy that you share with your teenager. In other words, when you live a brave life of love, you give deep love to your dear ones.
Finally, as you continue the journey of healing yourself, you may enjoy documenting your support system map. You are worth investing in!
