There are 5 inner child wounds we can heal: rejection, abandonment, humiliation, betrayal, and injustice. By eliminating the root of these difficult memories, which were formed during your childhood, you can stop letting your inner child affect your adult relationships and overall wellbeing.
The 5 inner child wounds
- Rejection
- Abandonment
- Humiliation
- Betrayal
- Injustice
The wound of injustice generally is developed between the ages of two to four, when a child chooses to notice their individuality and differences. When a child is not encouraged or accepted to embrace their true selves, they begin to feel shut down which can stop them from expressing themselves later in life.
As a result of peer rejection, social exclusion, or even a lack of positive reinforcement from caregivers, there is also a rejection wound. These can leave lasting scars on self-esteem and self-worth, which can manifest as avoiding social situations or fearing rejection as a whole.
Anyone suffering with abandonment wounds may tend to feel left out in group environments, struggle to be alone and therefore attach easily and quickly to others. If parents left when we were young, or we had a lack of parental love, we sometimes allow this to affect how much we trust a potential romantic partner later in life.
Humiliation wounds come from moments we felt embarrassed as children, often coming up as fear, shame or guilt. Anyone with these wounds often have a self-perception of being powerless or helpless – which simply isn’t true. It is just based on how we internalised and experienced humiliation growing up.
Betrayal wounds come up when we felt hurt or disregarded as children, or treated badly. If you watched your caregivers be dishonest with one another or act with forms of betrayal, you can often start to fear being hurt in your own adult relationships, and may shut down any signs of commitment immediately.
How to start healing trauma
You can start healing your 5 inner child wounds by going to the root of the cause. Write down and talk to a coach, like me, about your memories and how that made you feel, explaining whether you see a pattern developing in your current life that relates to how you felt as a child.
In my Heal From Inside Out program, I take clients through inner child work and self-love, using cognitive behavioural therapy to rewire the neural pathways. Instead of your brain automatically acting from a wounded child, you will start to identify why you feel the way you do, and change it.
You will realise how all of the beliefs you formed as a child are not facts: they are just limiting programs that you were led to believe. You will soon start to feel empowered, confident, and lighter, as you will heal all of the inner child wounds you had no idea you were holding onto!
Inner child meditation
I’ve created a beautiful inner child meditation on my Spotify, which is just over five minutes long, making it perfect for anyone who doesn’t have much time to meditate. By listening to this track every morning and night, you’ll begin to heal your inner child and forgive yourself for any negative self-talk.
When we heal our inner child, we let go of shame, internal guilt, abandonment issues and the fear we are not good enough. We realise there is just a young version of us deep within who we need to nurture in the same way we would a daughter, son, or little person, because they deserve to be loved.
Book a 1:1 meditation with me at coachingwithcb.com if you want a more personalised, empowering experience for 30 minutes.