Healing the Inner Child: A Simple Guide to Wholeness

Your inner child holds both joy and old wounds — it’s never too late to heal and reconnect.

Have you ever noticed yourself reacting in a way that feels younger than your years — maybe shutting down, feeling small or overreacting? That’s often your inner child speaking.

Most of us have heard the phrase “inner child”, but what does it really mean? In simple terms, your inner child is the part of you that still carries memories, feelings and patterns from when you were young. It holds both the joyful, playful side of childhood and the painful experiences that may not have been fully healed.

Nurturing the inner child within.

What Happens When the Inner Child Is Wounded

When a child goes through something painful, their mind sometimes creates “an emotional split in their sense of self.” This doesn’t mean something dramatic like a full breakdown — it’s more like a small crack in the way their mind develops. The crack forms as a way to protect the child from overwhelming emotions.

For example:

Imagine a child sees their mother crying because her own parent just died. The child may not understand what death means, but they feel the deep sadness. They might think, “If Mum is sad, I don’t know how to handle this — I’ll just hide my feelings.” That hidden feeling becomes a small break in their inner child.

Over time, that child grows up, but the old “crack” in their sense of self — the way they see and feel about themselves — can remain. As an adult, they may withdraw when they see others upset, without even realising why. The break is the mind’s way of saying: “Let’s protect you from the pain for now.” But if it’s never healed, it can affect how the adult responds to emotions later in life.

For some children, the break may come from something deeper, like neglect. Imagine a child who often feels unseen or unheard — perhaps their needs weren’t met, or they were left to comfort themselves. To cope, the child may quietly form beliefs like, “My feelings don’t matter,” or “I have to manage everything on my own.” As that child grows, these hidden cracks in their sense of self can show up as struggling to trust others, finding it hard to ask for help, or feeling they must always stay strong and independent.

Think of it like this …

Like a tree growing around a scar, our inner child carries wounds that can be healed and reshaped

Picture a tree that gets damaged when it’s young. The bark grows over the wound, protecting it, but the mark remains. As the tree grows taller and stronger, that knot is still part of its trunk. In the same way, our inner child’s wounds become part of us — unless we gently heal and reshape them.

Why It Matters as an Adult

As adults, many of us carry these hidden emotional breaks in our sense of self. They show up as:

        🪻 Overreacting to small triggers

         🪻Feeling shut down when emotions get too strong

         🪻Struggling with confidence or self-worth

         🪻Difficulty connecting in relationships

The good news is, just like you can strengthen and support a weak muscle, you can nurture and heal your inner child. By recognising the part of you that still feels small, scared or unheard, you can bring that piece into your adult self and create wholeness.

How to Heal Your Inner Child

Healing begins when we bring our inner child from the shadows into the light of love and care

Healing doesn’t mean re-living old pain. It means:

        🪻 Acknowledging that the inner child exists.

         🪻Listening to what they needed back then (comfort, love, safety)

         🪻Reassuring them that your adult self can now provide this

This process is like gently repatterning the pathways in your mind so they no longer break at the same point. Instead, they strengthen and support the whole person you are today. Your inner child is not something separate from you — it’s you, just younger.

When you understand and nurture that part of yourself, you move from living with old cracks in your foundation to standing stronger, more balanced and more whole.

This is why psychic medium Lisa Hayley and I created the Mystical Carnival Workshop on 6 September — a unique chance to reconnect with your inner child in a way that blends deep healing with light hearted fun. 👉 Click here to book your place now

🎪✨ Through play, creativity and powerful healing guided processes, you’ll release old hurts while giving your inner child the joy, love and freedom they’ve always needed.

By combining fun with deep healing, this workshop offers a unique and heart-opening way to nurture your inner child and step forward feeling freer, lighter and more whole.

💜 Places are limited for the Mystical Carnival Workshop on 6 September. Reserve your spot here.