We all have an inner child – the part of us that is still innocent, shy, curious, creative, and open to the world.
It is this part of us that infuses our life with spontaneity, play, joy, and wonder. But it’s also this part of us that carries our deepest sorrows, fears, anger, and hurts.
Most of us go through life totally unaware of this inner part of us. We seem to carry a very two-dimensional idea about who we are, not realizing that we are composed of many different parts.
What is the Inner Child? (& the Benefits of Doing This Work)
The inner child is one of our most ancient parts. In fact, our inner child represents our original self – the identity that originally blossomed into this world.
When we are oblivious to our inner child, we’re also totally unconscious of their needs, desires, and wounds. It is then that we play out self-sabotaging patterns and repeat unconscious habits, not knowing that they are all rooted in the inner child.
By becoming aware of your inner child and what they are trying to tell you, you will develop more self-respect, self-love, and inner groundedness.
You’ll become more capable of listening to your authentic needs, develop the ability to undo old harmful patterns, and find the clarity to pursue your true life purpose.
On a spiritual level, reconnecting with your inner child helps you to heal the heart chakra and feel more physically, emotionally, and mentally safe in this world. As such, learning to embrace your inner child is a powerful form of down-to-earth spiritual practice that can immensely deepen and enrich your spiritual journey by helping you to awaken your heart.
How to Connect With Your Inner Child
The best way to reconnect with your inner child is through a practice known as inner child work.
In inner child work, we actively seek to reconnect with this innocent and oftentimes wounded part of us through a variety of self-nurturing practices.
You can think of this test as an introduction or even initiation into inner child work. It will give you a place to start and something to focus your attention on.
As always, don’t take our word as the final authority. If you feel that your inner child is trying to tell you something that’s even more important than what this test reveals, by all means, listen to that inner voice instead and go exploring!
Also, please don’t be afraid of reaching out for professional help. You can also take a look at our Inner Child Journal if you need a structured, supportive, and compassionate way to begin this crucial work.
Inner Child Test
I hope you enjoy this inner child test. Feel free to share it with others if you find it beneficial and revealing. And, of course, share what result you got below!
What did you get?
Share your result in the comments below!
another great article, as usual. I know I need to tackle this but also need to go through the shadow workbook again. Are you ever done with shadow work?
I need to grieve.
Result Image
Your inner child is trying to tell you that you need space to grieve. You have unprocessed emotions that are weighing you down and contributing to mental/physical unease. Take a moment to reflect on what unprocessed trauma you might be carrying. Have you given yourself adequate space and time to face your heartbreak, feel it, and let it go? Your inner child carries the weight of this burden and is pleading you to finally work through it. It’s time to stop pretending that everything is okay, gently take the hand of your inner child, and let this sadness transform and be integrated.
“I need to Slow Down”
Really interesting. I wasn’t expecting this result at all.
For my entire adult life, I have always been in a huge hurry all the time. I get anxious and feel the need to rush/end conversations, even with loved ones. I hurry to achieve success. Once I accomplish something, I enjoy it for a short moment and then quickly become dissatisfied and seek out the next thing. I put a lof of pressure on myself to “be better” and I have high standards for myself.
I’ve only just recently woken up to the realisation that my mother who I thought was demonic is actually a narcissist. I’ve been trying the inner child meditations and Ho’oponopo but the fear and resistance is overwhelming. I have C PTSD and can’t afford professional help anymore. Not that they were helpful! They never mentioned narcissism to me!
I’m desperate for advice, please. I’m barely surviving these days. Im 41 y/o.
Thank you.
Very informative and interesting reading. I can relate to so much what I’ve read. At the age of two, until I was 12… I was sexual molested weekly by my stepfather. I told a friend and thankfully she told her mom. My stepfather spent one night in jail, social services had my sister and I sit on his lap so he could apologize. My mom and stepfather remained together and within three months we relocated. I was told it was a “fresh start” and the past is in the past, we were never to mention or talk about the sexual abuse. It was swept under the rug. My mom said she never left us alone with him again, I have no memories of any further sexual abuse. A year and half later they were divorced and another stepfather moved in, and we moved again to another county. My mom would never hear of nor speak about the sexual abuse, she didn’t want to hear it. My sister and I never had any counseling, and I got good at burying my thoughts and feelings, for years was able to forget it ever happened. My relationship with my mom was strained, her job became her top priority, she was always angry if she had to miss work to take me to the dentist or doctor appointment. I always felt like a burden. I can’t recall one time where she took the time to ask how I was, or even if I was ok. There was no emotional connection. My teenage years were so difficult and l always felt so alone, I acted out a lot and basically didn’t care about much, I must admit I wasn’t an easy teenager to parent , I rebelled and it seemed like the only communication we ever had was because of trouble I had gotten into or caused. I often felt lonely and sad, unloveable and unworthy. Any interaction with my family felt artificial and uncomfortable.
Fast forward to my life today…. married for 26 years …5 kids, 11 grandkids , currently no relationship with most of my family. My question to you…. after experiencing flash backs, the past came back and was it was time for me to work though things I had so easily pushed out my mind and forgotten. Fortunately I was lucky enough to start counseling with my Pastor at church. It helped me greatly but I know I it will be a life long journey of healing.
We did lot of work reconnecting and recognizing my inner child. My inner child was so full of possibilities and wanted to do great things. My question is this…. I spent a lot of time grieving and eventually mourning my inner child, recognizing her goodness and all of her dreams…. I did a lot of crying with her, knowing “she would” never be because being sexual molested killed the person she should have bloomed into. It was a difficult to admit and accept, we cried together for many days. I finally realized I needed to grieve her and let he go, he had taken her from me and she would never be. It wasn’t easy and I still grieve my inner child but I fell like it brought me some peace and resolution. My inner child is no longer hiding in the dark, sitting around waiting for something that will never be. As strange as it sounds… i was able to love her and together we sobbed for what she was suppose to be. I let her go, bringing both of us some peace and another level of healing. After reading I felt apprehensive, should I have grieved her and acknowledged that she would never be? How can I connect with her if I grieved and let my inner child pass away? Is this something you have ever heard or experienced ? Hope this makes some sense to you. Thank you for your time and listening to pieces of my life. Any response you can give me I would greatly appreciate. Thank you again. Kim.
I need to be seen and validated.
It is quite accurate I think, I just do not recognize it fully yet. As a child I never found my place among others. I kept going from groups of people to other groups of people, feeling rejected or not included in any of them. From that point I decided, at first unconsciously of course, that I had to adapt my self, to change my self so that I could be accepted by others.
Plus I have this obsession with eyes, be it real eyes, eyes that I draw, eyes that I imagine on material things, eyes in the sky, the interest I have for the gaze of people etc. I also had this period when I was a teenager / young adult for like 6 years when I just could not face the world, all I wished for was to vanish like a ghost and that people stop looking at me as if I existed. I still feel it actually. I try to let it be and let it go but from time to time I still ask myself ‘why do they all look at me??’. I know not everyone looks at me but I feel like I attract people, like they really gaze at me or turn around in the street and that still bothers me sometimes.
The sentence really triggers two distinct emotions/perceptions in me : with ‘I need to be seen’ I can feel the sadness, the loneliness of my inner child, like ‘I deserve to be seen, I deserve to be me’. But on the other hand, with ‘I need to be validated’ I feel both denial and boredom. Like there is this part in me that still thinks ‘nah I don’t need anyone to feel validated’ ‘I’m better off alone’. But I know the truth is it is all wounds and pain that I need to heal, hand in hand with my inner child. It is so hard to love yourself when you have carried on hatred against yourself on a daily basis for 7,10 years… But resilience is what makes us human so I will make it like any other person on this planet.
I thank you for your test, it gives an interesting insight. If anyone has a piece of advice for this kind of childhood wounds, I’m all ears.
Love and peace on whoever reads this,
Capucine
My re connection dreams last night. 21/07/20
(1) Pinching dream…. In my dream a man of about 35-45 appeared with his three daughters, all with straight long blond hair and neatly dressed. He acted as their biological father, dressed in a pale mauve/purple shirt and dark tie. From his features, I noticed a small rounded head, and sharpish chin. He spoke no words to his daughters, or to me, yet via thought impulses he indicated displeasure to me by pinching my upper arm, just below the arm pit, in the fleshy part of the muscle.
Conclusion: – This may indicate a part of myself (archetype) which is angry at myself, and cannot fully display it’s displeasure other than by …..the pinching action. So I was re-leaved to end this dream, as it may link to my inner child …
As I had an Indonesian teacher whose corporal punishment was to pinch and twist to the side burns. Plus an earlier teacher whom could not tolerate a slow child, and used to give me a good shake once in awhile.
(2) Re-connection with my deceased Father…Or “I think it’s time we had a talk .Dad”
My Father/Dad, in his life was a prisoner of war in the final years of world war II. He had flown in Lancaster bombers over Germany, as a radio operator and Morse code sender. He was shot down over German occupied territory, and parachuted to the ground, hurting his back. This plus plus the Prisoner of War camp experience really changed him from the likely English lad to a very quiet man in pain in his latter years. Which of course reflected upon his wife , two daughters and finally me.
As a Father he could not openly show his feelings, yet within me a constant feeling of rivalry happened towards him all the time. As most times he was submerged in his pain and his business life and did not or could not abide my delicate inner sensibilities as a sensitive child that was tentative to do anything as I had fears.
So in my dream I am adult, (safe and secure) and once more back 60 years, moving around the divide in the kitchen (The place where most critical verbals happened and the world was kept out side and at bey from the family). So without fear in this instance, I spoke up saying to my Father’s aloof silence….I think it’s time we had a talk..” The first time ever in all my 65 years of troubles.
Conclusion:- I had jumped over the fear hurdle, bi passed the lack of male nurturing, avoided the teasing , the rivalry, the critical sarcasm etc and made the effort to
initiate healing. How I wish he was still alive, to find this much adult courage to re build relationships with him. As before this time, my past thoughts were derogatory towards him . Big assumptions made! So from now on I will not presume to have known my Father fully, but perhaps I am beginning to heal me and accept my circumstances here and now! I will also not presume to assume that my inner child does not matter…. It may be tough going for awhile but via meditations and inner visualization I am making slow but steady progress to unblock child hood phobias and fears, reduce my anxiety and to be fully adult !
I need to grieve. I wasn’t expecting that result but I will look into this further and try it.
I remember crying every night and being embarrassed to go to school because my eyes were so puffy that the kids would notice. It wasn’t just a little bit of crying, I cried a lot. I don’t know why. I don’t know if others did that too. I don’t think it was a normal thing for a kid. I don’t cry now. I haven’t cried in a long time.
It seems like I grieved a lot as a child.
Maybe you had separation anxiety or school phobia – many kids have that. It can be traumatic going to school and having to leave home, your mother, and other siblings. Also you could have been shy. Shy kids have a more difficult time at school as it involves interacting with other students and teachers and being around many different personalities all day long.
An amazing result and accurate. Thought provoking.
Thank you