Welcome!
I'm Jocelyn.
I'm so grateful you joined me for this bit of a talk on the inner child.
There's been so many audios I've listened to recently about the inner child,
That beautiful,
Unfiltered,
Innocent energy of the inner child.
When I think about and I open my heart to my inner child's energy,
I feel those impulses,
That creativity,
That innocence,
Like I'm always seeing something new when I look at things.
And often,
Accessing my inner child,
I access new ways of creating within my life.
I wanted to take some time,
Though,
To place that inner child in the larger context of an inner family.
Because it's not just about accessing the inner child.
When we just access our inner child,
And we don't talk about the other parts of our inner family,
And that change,
That lasting energy and creativity we're looking to bring into our lives,
Doesn't get to grow from the seed.
So if you might think about our inner world,
Right?
Our inner world,
Our internal world.
Might you think about it as an inner family,
Housing our inner child,
Our inner sage,
Our inner mother,
And inner father?
Like a constellation of that inner family within us.
Might you think about the inner child as being the beginning of the journey within the inner family?
The inner child being that impulsive,
Open,
Wonder-filled,
Curiosity,
Creativity,
Heart of our inner family.
That part of our inner family that is full of surprises and new ways of doing things because it is not conditioned.
Because that inner child hasn't been necessarily taught how to do things in particular ways.
It doesn't have a good or bad or right or wrong.
That inner child just follows their heart,
Their impulses,
Their creativity,
And their wonder.
And in an inner family that's working,
That inner sage would witness the inner child.
The inner sage would listen,
Would see,
Would feel what that inner child was expressing without judgment.
That inner sage would witness that inner child's beauty and magic and creativity and curiosity,
All of it.
And they wouldn't judge it.
The inner sage would instead notice what was happening with the inner child,
Experience it,
And then direct that inner child,
That energy that's coming from the inner child,
That beautiful world of information and questioning and creativity,
And they would direct it to either the inner mother or the inner father.
The inner sage would be able to discern where that energy needs to be directed because there wouldn't be any judgment on what they were experiencing.
And if the inner sage directs that energy to the inner mother,
That's the feminine,
Right?
And in a beautiful working inner world,
That inner mother would be nurturing,
Loving.
That inner mother would hold,
Would love,
Would nurture,
Like the gardener with a seed in the dirt,
You know,
Taking care,
Making sure all the elements are there for that exploration.
And the inner mother would do this without judgment as well.
But maybe the inner sage sees what the inner child is experiencing,
Feels it,
Listens,
Right,
And says this child needs protecting.
Then the inner sage would direct the energy to the inner father.
The inner father being the masculine,
The protector of that inner child.
And that might mean holding a boundary,
Right?
That might mean physically protecting that inner child,
But not directing that protection at the inner child,
Rather directing it around them.
So if you can see how the inner family becomes this beautiful,
I would say,
System of the inner world,
Supported by the masculine,
The feminine,
Supported by the elder,
The wise elder,
The inner sage.
And when all of that's working,
The inner child can live open and free,
Knowing that they're taken care of,
That their energy is taken care of,
That their questions and their quests are directed,
They're supported,
And it really creates this beautiful flow and balancing in our lives of that inner child energy.
Now,
What I see a lot is people really focusing just on that inner child area.
But what happens if that inner family is dysfunctional,
Right?
And how does it get dysfunctional?
Well,
You can take a look at your outside family.
You can take a look at your outer family to see how it's coloring your inner family.
Oftentimes,
When we have,
Say,
A mother who is not nurturing,
Maybe is a bit judgmental,
Then our inner mother might have taken on some of that role.
So you can see how there's a connection between our outer family,
Our family that we have in this world,
And our inner family.
And that's not to say that everybody's inner family mimics their family life in the world,
But it is possible.
We grow up with conditioning from our parents.
But if you start to look at the roles of inner sage,
Inner mother,
And inner father,
And you start to see the themes of that inner family of yours,
Then you can heal to a very deep level and begin to allow that inner child to come out and play effortlessly when we've taken into account the whole inner family.
So let me talk for a minute about the dysfunctional inner family.
And a lot of it has to do with judgment,
Judging.
And it goes back to that conditioning and that good and bad and right and wrong.
What if your inner sage is an energy that judges immediately when they see and witness and listen to the inner child?
And all of a sudden,
It's like those paths get crossed.
When your inner child really needs nurturance,
The discernment isn't there to send them to the inner mother.
Maybe go to the father,
Right?
That inner wise elder that knows where that energy has to go,
But there may be in judgment.
And what if that inner mother is dysfunctional?
What if that child,
That inner child,
The energy was directed to the inner mother and there,
Instead of nurturing,
Maybe you get the judgment.
What if you get the opposite of nurturing?
What if you get judgment,
Shame,
Guilt,
Blame?
And that can all come from the outer mother.
It can come from other places in the world,
Other ways you've been conditioned.
And then what if they go to the inner father and there,
It's a place to let out anger instead of be that masculine protection.
What if that protection gets directed at the inner child instead of around the inner child?
It all makes it pretty unsafe for that inner child to come out and play.
So let's just do a quick contemplation of that inner family.
Just bringing your awareness to the inner sage,
That inner wise elder.
Is your inner sage without judgment?
Can your inner sage listen,
Experience,
See your inner child with the same wonder,
Curiosity,
And creativity?
Or does it want to shut down that freedom of the inner child?
Does it want to shame that inner child?
Does it want to send it to the inner father to be taken care of,
Right?
And bring your awareness now to the inner mother.
What does your inner mother feel like?
Is it nurturing?
Is it feminine?
Is it full of shame,
Blame,
Judgment,
Fear?
Think about your own relationship to your mother.
That's always a good start,
Though not flawless,
Right?
There's lots of places we get conditioned with our inner mother.
How does your inner mother nurture,
Or what do they define nurturance as?
And then bring your awareness to your inner father.
How does your inner father protect that inner masculine?
How does your inner father act?
You can look at your relationship with your father,
Or what you've seen other father figures do,
But allow your mind to just gently sail across the inner father landscape.
Because if we want to really get into that inner child energy,
We have to be able to support it with our whole inner family,
Especially if we want it to show up for us in life.
There's a whole net of support in the inner family.
And if one part of that support,
Or that net,
Isn't braided well,
Or isn't really supportive,
Then the whole thing can come crashing down.
So there's ways to work with this.
You can start to write,
Or draw,
Or meditate,
Or do some breath work,
Or somatic work around each of these parts,
The inner child,
Inner sage,
Inner mother,
And inner father.
Dialogue,
Write with each of these parts within yourself.
Dialogue and write with each and every one.
I will be putting out some tracks in the next month for each of these parts of the inner family for an exploration,
So if you don't follow me,
Please do.
Again,
My name is Jocelyn,
And I look forward to creating these for you.
Thank you so much,
My friends.
Namaste.
