Saturday, June 7, 2014

Listening to your inner child…who said that?

Whether you remember your childhood in great detail or not, your early experiences affect you even as an adult.  And although you may be more focused on the here and now, those formative years are still playing their tune within your psyche; conscious or not.  As adults we imagine ourselves to be just that, adults. We assume we are rational and logical and our reactions are justified. But what about those times when we leave the level grounds of logic. What is happening to you when you come face to face with your unexplained emotions?  Those time when you feel inexplicable sadness, worry or anger.  When someone says something in a particular way and you feel your face get hot and your voice begin to rise of its own accord? Who is speaking through you during those times? Carl Jung assisted his patients in identifying these moments and called this issues, "Complexes".  A complex is as Jungian Analyst, James Hollis concisely defines, "the energy-charged clusters of our history".

These complexes appear throughout your childhood.  You could say they are your "buttons"; when pushed you react. There are several therapies that enlist the inner child for change in behavior;  Narrative Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Depth Psychology, Transactional Analysis and others.  All of these modalities strive to differentiate the wounded inner child from the rest of the personality.  Once it's identified the client and the therapist work together to enhance healing and awareness at the level where the conflict resides.  One of my favorite therapy questions from Dr. Hollis is "to whom/what is this behavior in service to?" When answered "the past", a person can begin to dialogue with the inner child.  This technique is very effective in creating change.

By accessing your inner child you increase your ability to stop overreacting and begin to be able to respond to moments of tension with more self control.  With your new found awareness into your belief system, the plight of wounded-ness begins to heal; sometimes the issue that once was there becomes obsolete.
It is a powerful and enlightening process.

"It is a bewildering thing in human life that the thing that causes the greatest fear is the source of the greatest wisdom" C.G. Jung