The way we function and react in our daily life has its roots in the survival strategies that we learned as a child. Everybody has been through events in their childhood that could not then be fully processed. These events can leave an emotional charge that will be activated by similar events in our present life. As adults we have the strength and the power to work through these events and the emotions connected to them. Now we are able to handle emotions that as a child seemed unbearable.

During our childhood we also learn to give a certain interpretation to reality. We learn rules and convictions some of which will have a restraining effect on our personal development. Inner child therapy aims to trace these convictions and transform them into personal strength and positive affirmations.

Our past lingers on in our present. The way we have been treated as a child determines how we treat ourselves.
As children we develop coping strategies to help us not to feel pain. These strategies are still active in the present and block our personal development.

We so much want to believe we had a happy childhood, or we are told that the past is the past and we have to learn to live with what has been and that our parents have done the best they could. In this way we use a lot of energy in suppressing feelings like pain, fear, anger and sorrow. If we can really open up for what we feel than we can use this energy in a better way.

Healing the child within is something that happens in the HERE AND NOW.

Following are a number of questions that can help you decide whether inner-child work would be good for you.

- Is what other people think of you very important?
- Do you worry about what could happen in the future?
- Do you find it difficult to express your emotions?
- Do you have a strong sense of responsibility?
- Do you feel sometimes empty inside, not clear in your mind, dazed, not really present?
- Are you afraid to be criticized?
- Are you a perfectionist and are you critical of yourself?
- Do you find it difficult to give priority to your own needs instead of other people’s needs?
- Do you find it difficult to ask something for yourself?
- Are you afraid to let people come too close, to become too intimate?
- Do you react in an unhealthy way to authority?
- Are you afraid to be alone?
- Are you afraid to make mistakes?
- Do you often have neck and back ache, and/or muscular pain, and/or headache,
- and/or stomach ache and/or fatigue?
- Do you often do what you HAVE to do and find out that there is no time left for
- what you WANT to do?
- Do you find difficult to relax and just enjoy life?
- Do you feel blocked in your creativity and/or sexuality?
- Do you feel guilty, not good enough and/or feel shame?
- Are you troubled with doubts and indecision?
- Do you have expectations about what other people or events can do for you?
- For example: if I have a relation then I know I’m ok, if I find a new house then I feel happy, etc.
- Do you often feel helpless?
- Do you give away the responsibility of your emotional well-being to people close to you?
(for example: your partner, etc.)

All these questions point out to emotional dents our inner-child still carries within ourselves.
If you resonate with these questions then inner-child work can mean a lot to you.