This is going to be a Fairy tale meditation for meeting your inner child.
So get comfortable.
Maybe grab a soft blanket.
And maybe you could light a candle.
And just.
Make yourself.
Very cozy.
There was once a little girl who lived in a house at the edge of a very busy world.
She was a quiet little girl.
Or do.
There was nothing quiet about the world inside her.
She noticed things other people didn't notice.
The tiny change in someone's voice.
The hum of a light.
The feeling of a room before anyone had said a word.
The way the sky changed just before rain.
The little sounds behind the big sounds.
The things people said without saying them.
She noticed everything.
And because she noticed so much,
Sometimes the world felt very,
Very big.
So she learned to watch.
She watched the other children and tried to understand the invisible rules they seemed to know without being told.
She learned when to smile,
When to speak,
When to be quiet,
When to join in and when to stay away.
She learned how to make herself a little smaller when the world felt too large.
And because she was a clever little girl,
She became very good at it.
People often told her what a good girl she was.
And she smiled.
But nobody could see how tired she sometimes became.
Nobody saw how much thinking could fit inside one little day.
Nobody knew how often she needed to disappear somewhere quiet just to feel like herself again.
So every evening,
When the house became still.
She would climb into her bed.
Pull the blankets close,
And listen to the quiet,
And sometimes,
Very softly,
So softly that even the moon might have had to lean closer,
She would whisper.
When will someone come who understands me?
And then she would wait,
Perhaps not for a day.
Perhaps not for a year,
But for a very,
Very long time.
She grew older.
She learned more things.
She became capable.
She became independent.
She learned how to smile when she was overwhelmed.
She learned how to say I am fine when she wasn't.
She learned how to keep going when she was already tired.
She learned how to be what the world seemed to need.
And still,
Somewhere deep inside,
The little girl waited.
Until one evening,
Many years later,
Something extraordinary happened.
The little girl was sitting in her old room.
It was just as she remembered it.
The familiar walls,
Shadows,
The little place beside the window where moonlight came through at night.
She was older now.
And yet somehow she was still ill.
She was still waiting.
Then she heard something.
Footsteps.
Very soft footsteps.
Someone was coming down the hallway.
The little girl sat up,
The door opened.
And there standing in the gentle light was a woman.
She looked tired.
She looked kind.
And there was something strangely familiar about her eyes.
The little girl stared at her.
The woman smiled.
She didn't ask why are you still awake.
She didn't say you should be over this by now.
She didn't tell her to stop crying.
She didn't ask her to explain herself.
Instead,
She walked slowly across the room,
Knelt beside the bed,
And whispered.
Oh,
Sweetheart.
The little girl looked at her.
The woman reached out her hand,
And then she said,
I've been looking for you.
The little girl didn't understand.
Who are you?
The woman smiled through tears.
I am you.
The little girl stared.
But you are all grown up.
Yes.
Did you come to take me away?
Did you come to tell me what I did wrong?
No,
Sweetheart.
Then why are you here?
The woman took a breath.
And very gently she said because I know now.
The little girl was very still.
Know what?
The woman looked at her with the kindest eyes she had ever seen.
I know why you needed so much quiet.
I know why some things felt bigger to you than they seem to feel to other people.
I know why you were tired.
I know why you sometimes needed to be alone.
I know why you watched everyone before you knew how to join them.
The little girl's eyes filled with tears.
The woman reached out and gently held her hand.
You weren't difficult.
You weren't too sensitive.
You weren't lazy.
You weren't strange.
And you weren't failing.
Let the little girl look down at their hands Then why was everything so hard?
The woman was quiet for a moment,
And then she said,
Because sometimes the world was asking you to carry more than anyone could see.
The little girl began to cry,
Not loudly,
Just the deep quiet crying of someone who has been waiting for a very long time.
And the woman didn't stop her.
She simply stayed She didn't hurry the tears away,
She didn't say don't cry,
She didn't say look on the bright side,
She just sat beside her.
And after a while,
The little girl leaned against her shoulder.
The woman wrapped her arms around her,
And for the first time,
The little girl didn't have to hold herself together.
She could simply be held.
After a long while,
The little girl whispered,
Are you going to leave?
The woman closed her eyes.
No.
Are you sure?
Yes.
Even when I'm tired?
Even when I don't want to talk?
Especially then.
Even when I need to be alone?
Yes.
Even when i am too much The woman gently lifted the little girl's face.
You could never be too much for me.
The little girl was quiet.
And then she asked the questions she had been carrying for so many years.
Will you come back tomorrow?
The woman smiled.
I won't have to.
Why?
Because I'm here now.
And the little girl finally understood.
She had been waiting for someone to come from outside herself.
Someone who would understand.
Someone who would stay.
And all those years later,
Someone had come.
Not a stranger.
Not a rescuer,
Not a fairy godmother,
But her.
The woman she would become,
The woman who finally knew how to listen,
The woman who finally knew what the little girl needed.
A woman who could say You don't have to do this alone anymore.
And perhaps,
Dear listener,
That is a little girl inside you too.
Perhaps she has been waiting.
Perhaps she has been waiting for someone to come back for her.
Perhaps she's sitting somewhere in an old room of your memory.
Perhaps she is hiding under a blanket.
Or she is looking out of the window.
Or she's still trying very hard to be good.
Very hard to be easy.
Trying hard to be enough.
And perhaps tonight?
You can go and find her.
You don't need to remember everything.
You don't need to know exactly what happened.
You don't need to open every old door.
Just imagine that little one.
And if you can sit beside her Don't ask her to tell you everything.
Don't make her explain.
Just let her see your face.
Let her see that you came.
And perhaps you can say I have been looking for you.
I know you were tired.
I know you are tired.
I know you didn't always understand what was happening.
I know you thought you had to be different,
But sweetheart,
You didn't have to become someone else to deserve love.
You never did.
Then perhaps take her hand.
And stay.
You don't have to fix her childhood.
You don't have to change the past.
You don't have to pretend that everything was beautiful.
You can simply be there.
With her.
Sometimes healing doesn't begin with changing what happened.
Sometimes it begins with no longer leaving ourselves alone with it.
So stay Sit beside her.
Let her be quiet.
Or let her talk,
Let her play,
Let her cry.
Let her tell you what she loves.
Let her show you the things she noticed that nobody else saw.
And when she's tired,
Let her rest against you.
Tower.
You can stop now.
You don't have to be good for me.
You don't have to perform.
You don't have to make yourself smaller.
You don't have to explain why you feel what you feel.
And if she asks,
Will you stay?
You already know the answer.
Yes.
If she asks,
Even when I'm difficult.
Yes.
Even when I'm overwhelmed.
Yes.
Even when I need the whole world to be quiet.
Yes,
Sweetheart.
Even then.
And perhaps she will finally let herself believe you.
Perhaps she will take your hand.
Perhaps she will smile.
Or perhaps she will simply fall asleep.
And if she does,
You can stay beside her a little longer.
Watch the moonlight move across the room.
Listen to the quiet and remember.
You are not going back to become that little girl again.
You are going back so she doesn't have to wait alone anymore.
She doesn't need you to rescue her.
She needs you to remember her,
To listen,
To be kind,
To stay.
And as you sit there together You will notice something very beautiful.
The little girl you thought you had lost was never really lost.
She was waiting.
Waiting for you to come home.
And now you are here.
So rest,
Little one.
You don't have to watch the door anymore.
You don't have to listen for footsteps.
You don't have to wonder if someone is coming.
I am here.
I am not leaving.
And you don't have to wait anymore.
Thank you.
