INNER-CHILD MEDITATION JOURNEY
This inner-child meditation follows on from my recent article, that the inner-child keeps the score. You can find the article here.
I invite you to come into any comfortable position, seated or lying.
Take a nice conscious breath. Settle in.
Let go of what’s been on your mind. Make the decision that this is your time now. Coming back to yourself.
As I take you on a journey of self-discovery, I invite you to come with an open heart and open mind. Allow yourself to visualise, to imagine, and surrender to whatever wants to be seen in your mind..
We shall now begin.
It’s a beautiful warm sunny day and you’re out for a walk alone in a forest. The rays of the sun glisten through the trees, and you feel a gentle warm breeze, as you listen to the soft rustling of the leaves and the chirping of the birds.
As you walk through the forest, you see what looks like a door in the near distance. You walk closer, and yes it’s a door, it seems to be glowing. As you come close, you see a sign on the door which reads ‘A journey into yourself’. You feel a little wary to go in, but you know you cannot miss this opportunity to know yourself on a deeper level.
So you open the door and step in.. not knowing what’s to come, but trusting that you are being guided here for a reason.
After stepping through the door, you find yourself in a tunnel of geometrical patterns, shapes and bright colours. You are whisked through the tunnel, hovering above ground as if there’s no gravity, and upon reaching the other side, you find yourself in an empty cinema room, watching a large screen, and a story is being presented to you. And the main character in this story is you.
As the production begins, it shows you inside of your mother’s womb at 8 months old. You are fully formed and healthy. You have no self-awareness yet, but you ARE conscious. You are aware of sounds around you, and most of all, you can DEEPLY feel emotions from your mother and also your father. You see, during your mother’s pregnancy, you have been absorbing every word, every thought and every feeling from her. This includes any interaction with another person.
Along with the excitement she may have felt, your mother most likely had moments of fear during her pregnancy. You would have felt her fear, along with any self-limiting thoughts that she may have had. In some sad situations, the mother and/or father may have felt that they were unsure about having a baby, and this feeling of rejection would also have been absorbed.
The movie forwards on, and shows you at different stages from the ages of 1-3 years old. You run around, you dance, you sing and play. You fall, you get back up. You love to learn new things, and the world is exciting. You have your random bouts of tantrums, but you don’t care who sees. Emotions flow from you and through you.
Now during these years, and up to the age of around 7, you are like a sponge, absorbing everything that you are taught. You haven’t yet developed the ability to intellectualise yet, so you take everything in at face value. You see your parents as your protectors, so you pay close attention to everything they say. This goes for teachers, caregivers and siblings too. Unfortunately, this includes the negative things as well as the positive. You might have had strict parents, who made you feel that you had to always be the good girl or boy, or maybe they were overprotective, and in their innocence they caused you to feel suffocated, but with the same outcome, that you must always do the right things to please them. Or maybe you felt ignored at some points in your childhood, which made you feel rejected and not good enough. All of this creates an unconscious pattern or cycle, and you start to behave in certain ways to ensure you are meeting up to the perceived “standards”. I must note that this is all done unconsciously, without your awareness.
The clips transition as you grow older, now showing you between the ages of 7-12. You are more self-aware here, which comes with its positives and negatives. Both outward judgements and self-judgement come into play, as you now understand what is good and bad, right and wrong, and you notice how your thoughts have changed.. from once being completely carefree, to now, feeling as if you’re in a box, and your personality has started to morph, to change. Maybe you act in accordance to what you believe will help you to feel accepted by others, without even knowing it, might I add.
Bullies come and go along your journey, and some harsh words or comments from other children stick with you, like glue. You believe what they say to be true, and suddenly, that bright, confident, glowing energy within starts to dull down, and the negative internal beliefs start to grow. You start thinking things like “I wish I was one of the popular kids”, “I don’t fit in”, “I need to act a certain way so that people will like me”..
The clip then transitions forward, now showing you between the ages of 12-18, showing as you blossom into a young adult, and within you emerges new passions, you dream about the future adult you, wondering what your life will be like. The possibilities are endless. You start to become attracted to the opposite, or same sex, and your self-image starts to become a big thing, you start to compare yourself against others, and you maybe start to follow others, to be part of their ‘crew’, even if it means partaking in things that are not good for you. If it means fitting in, then you go along with them, to avoid the possibility of being left out. Or maybe you don’t have many friends, you often feel alone, but find it hard to make friends due to your shyness or insecurities. You maybe remain alone to avoid rejection.
The movie forwards on into your 20s. Maybe you are a little careless as you move through this part of your life. Situations and events happen, both good and bad, and different people show up in your life. You may have situations of being hurt by another, and the wounds cut deep. Some things stick in your mind, that you struggle to let go of. Maybe you also hurt others or yourself, making some mistakes as you go.
Moving on into your 30s, you are more self-aware, not as carefree, as you know you have responsibilities. Life continues on.. Maybe you have children, and maybe you participate in the constant 9-5 with a holiday here and there if you are lucky. Some struggles may appear, whether that be financial, relationships, health.. Life is up and down..
And so it continues, similar situations, same patterns.. Sometimes you feel content with life, other times you feel despair, wondering what is meant for you, wanting more from life but not sure what that more is for you. Sometimes lacking self-belief and not feeling good enough in yourself. The continuous comparing against others just encourages that feeling of smallness within you.
The movie then forwards on, showing you on the screen as you are right now, in this very moment, in this very room.
A message appears on the screen, which reads “TO BE CONTINUED”..
Another message then appears, which reads “The remainder of your story is up to YOU””
The movie ends and the screen turns black, and those final words on the screen are at the forefront into your mind..
“The remainder of your story is up to YOU”. You ponder on this for a moment..
You are suddenly then transported back through the tunnel, back through the door and into the forest. The sun shines brightly once again, and you listen to the birds and the rustling in the trees as you take a walk back to yourself in the here and now.
And you take a deep breath, as you slowly come back into your body. And gently taking your awareness back to yourself, right here and now in this moment, begin to feel into any sensations in your body, and feeling the full weight of your body connected to the ground beneath you. Come back to your breath – slow, smooth, deep breaths, and with every exhale allowing your body to settle further, sinking deeper into the ground.
The remainder of your story is up to you.
From every experience that you’ve had in your life, every reaction, every feeling, every emotion that you’ve felt as a result of these experiences has been created from inside of you – not from the external, but in the internal.
You have a choice. You get to choose how you feel. The power is in your hands! It always has been. But now you have the awareness to use your will in a different way.. you are the one who decides how you want to experience life.
And a final note, for you to remember, “Life is happening for you, not to you”.
This was part 1 of your inner child meditation. From here I will take you through a journalling exercise in which we will discover how we have been creating our own lives – every situation, person, event, through our own internal belief system.
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