As adults, we walk around carrying wounds from our childhood, whether it’s simple or complex trauma, from emotional neglect to physical abuse. Many adults feel they’re alone with these hurts and feelings, Phillips notes, and so they cover them up because they feel like that’s “what other grown-ups do.”
That’s why inner child healing is so important, she says, “To remind ourselves that we’re not wrong or bad. To heal the shame that comes with just having feelings.”
By healing our inner child, we begin to create the safety and security our younger selves have always needed. By doing so, the positive traits of our inner child have room to shine. We unlock our natural gifts, our inner curiosity, and our limitless capacity to love.
On the other hand, when we avoid addressing our past hurts and feel alone with them, they transform into behaviors destructive to ourselves and our environment, such as workaholism, alcoholism, or racism.
“When we heal the inner child, we heal generations. We heal the world. We literally affect one another; that’s what coregulation is,” Phillips says.