Your inner child is the child that lives within you – the “part” of your personality that stores all your memories, feelings, needs, and attitudes towards yourself and others. When we are connected to our inner child, our life is filled with joy, playfulness, curiosity, inspiration, and happiness. And when we get disconnected from our inner child, we feel tired, depressed, bored with life, and sick. If you feel lost in life, tired, depressed, unhappy, or life doesn’t bring you joy anymore, it’s time to nurture and re-parent your inner child! In this article, I want to share with you the most powerful inner child affirmations that I’ve discovered throughout my practice of being a healer for over 20 years. I will also explain how these affirmations work and give you some helpful tips on how to use them most effectively.

Read on.

Inner Child Healing

Your inner child is the child that lives within your psyche. It is important that we stay connected with this sensitive part of ourselves. When we are connected to our inner child, we feel excited, enthusiastic, and inspired by life. 

If in childhood some of our important psychological needs were not met, then our inner child “gets stuck” and can not continue to grow and develop. Inner child healing can help us to face our fears and insecurities that were created in our childhood and heal these inner wounds.

Unfortunately, we live in a society that forces us to suppress our inner child. But the truth is that while most adults are physically “grown-up,” they never reach emotional and psychological maturity. In other words, most “adults” are not really adults from a maturity perspective. Instead, most people remain in a state of childish fears, anger, and trauma that has festered in the subconscious for decades.

The lack of a conscious attitude to our own inner child is one of the main causes of serious problems that we see in modern society. From environmental abuse to self-abuse, we have completely separated ourselves from our innocence and true nature.

Therefore, it will be right to say that inner child healing is an urgent matter for each and every person. It is through our inner healing that we can heal the world and mature as a society.

There are many different ways to do your inner child healing work. Here, in SOLANCHA Magazine, we published many different articles that can help you to understand how inner child healing works. Here are some of them:

6 Powerful Ways to Embrace, Heal and Re-parent Your Inner Child
Inner Child Healing: 4 Surprisingly Effective Practices
8 Signs You Have a Wounded Inner Child
Inner Child Quotes: 50 Powerful Sayings That’ll Remind You to Reparent Yours
Inner Child Healing Practice: 7 Questions to Ask Your Inner Child

In this article, I want to share with you one of the tools that you can use in your inner child healing work. This tool is inner child affirmations.

What are Inner Child Affirmations?

Inner child healing affirmations are short phrases containing a verbal inner child healing formula that, when repeated many times, activates the healing process in your subconscious, contributing to the improvement of your psycho-emotional background and stimulating positive changes in your life.

How Do Affirmations Work?

Every thought you think and every word you speak is an affirmation. All of your self-talk, your internal dialogue, is a stream of affirmations. You are using affirmations every moment whether you know it or not. You are affirming and creating your reality with every word you say and every thought you think.

To change our life, we need to change our thoughts. There is a link between the quality of our life and the thoughts we think daily. By repeating affirmations, you create positive vibrations in your subconscious mind which brings positive transformations into your body.

With a strong focus and concentration on positive thoughts, your mind can heal even the most serious diseases.

Affirmations are like seeds planted in soil. Poor soil provides poor growth. Rich soil gives abundant growth. The more you choose to think thoughts that make you feel good, the quicker the affirmations work.

50+ Inner Child Affirmations

Now let me share with you inner child affirmations. These affirmations will help you nurture and re-parent your inner child, activate healing processes, and become more joyful.

Here they are:

1. Today I comfort my inner child.
2. I am entering into a completely safe, healing space now.
3. I accompany my inner child through the healing process.
4. I love my inner child unconditionally.
5. I listen to my inner child’s needs and take care of them.
6. I trust my inner child.
7. My inner child deserves to have a voice and I listen to that voice.
8. I respect my childlike innicence.
9. I validate my inner child’s feelings.
10. The child in me is very much alive. It is a happy, joyous and fun loving child.
11. I re-parent my inner child with love, understanding and compassion.
12. I freely express my playfulness.
13. I love being playful and friendly.
14. I let go of pain and focus on my inner child healing.
15. My inner child helps me become more in alignment with my true self.
16. I create an atmosphere of peace and safety within myself.
17. __________(your name here), you are free to make your own choices. Live your own life.
18. I accept my childhood experiences/trauma and let it heal.
19. I receive love and kindness with ease.
20. Boundary setting helps me to create safety within my life.
21. I am ensuring my inner-child feels safe through my actions.
22. I release the feeling of isolation.
23. I deeply love and fully accept myself and all my experiences.
24. I release the feeling of guilt, hurt and shame.
25. I allow myself to accept positive thoughts and words about me.
26. I deserve to be respected and treated with love.
27. I ensure my inner-child of his/her safety by using words of love, compassion, and kindness.
28. A feeling of peace and tranquility comforts my being.
29. ___________, (your name here) I love you, I care about you and I accept you as you are.
30. I am protected and safe.
31. Along with my inner child, I am whole and complete.
32. I am well connecting with my inner child.
33. I am surrounded by the all-loving energy of the Universe and I am taken care of.
34. I am supported.
35. I am adored.
36. I am loved.
37. I am protected.
38. I am taken care of.
39. It is safe for me to express myself.
40. I am nurtured.
41. It is safe for me to be me.
42. I am nourished.
43. It is safe for me to feel.
44. It is safe for me to love and to be loved.
45. It is safe for me to play and to have fun.
46. It is safe for me to give and to receive.
47. It is safe for me to be happy and joyful.
48. It is safe for me to relax.
49. It is safe for me to be close to others.
50. It is safe for me to learn and grow.
51. I am loved no matter what.
52. I deserve to blossom and flourish.
53. I deserve to live a wonderful life.
54. I am now fully ‘me’.
55. I am healed.
56. I am now stepping forward into my new life – a happy life of abundance, peace, and joy!

How To Work With Inner Child Affirmations?

1. Write down or make a printout of all the inner child affirmations you’re going to work with.
2. Before starting to repeat your inner child affirmations, make sure to straighten your back, relax your shoulders, feel confident. You want to remove any pressure from your spine and make your energy flow freely and smoothly.
3. Say your inner child affirmations out loud one after another, slowly and confidently.
4. While saying the inner child affirmations look in the mirror or in the sky, or simply close your eyes and focus on your inner child image. Alternatively, you can use your childhood picture and look at it while saying the affirmations.
5. Say the affirmations at least 8 times each.
6. Do not use too many affirmations all at once in one session.
7. Be consistent: practice the inner child affirmations on a daily basis.

The Bottom Line

Inner child affirmations are a technique that contributes to our childhood trauma healing. When practiced daily along with other inner child healing practices, it helps you to re-parent and nourish your inner child, become whole again, and love yourself the way you are with all your experiences.

Childhood trauma arises when we go through overwhelming stress that exceeds our ability to cope during our formative years. It could be the death of a loved one or a pet, rejection by a close friend, or physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Stress generates negative emotions that can distort the way you perceive yourself or others. These incorrect perceptions and shadow emotions linger on into our adult life unless you take steps to heal your inner child. So, what are the signs of childhood trauma? And, what can you do to heal and live a fulfilling adult life? Let’s discuss more below.

Common Signs that You Are Struggling with Childhood Trauma

#1: Dissociative Behavior

A childhood trauma survivor finds lots of things in their environment as triggers to re-experiencing the trauma. For example, the sound of a dog barking may remind you of an abusive parent who kept dogs. That sound will make you disconnect from others as your mind drifts back to the negative memories.

The dissociation and soul loss happen as a subconscious way for the survivor to cope. Mostly, it is those random moments when you are unable to connect to your thoughts, identity, memories, or feelings because, as the brain remembers how you felt, it triggers your body to freeze.

#2: Difficulty Concentrating

Do you find yourself asking those around you to repeat what they tell you? Your poor concentration or short attention span may come from your childhood traumatic experiences. Here, the trauma disrupts attention processes leading to gaps in your memory, blacking out, or difficulty maintaining your train of thought.

In turn, you struggle to keep a job, study, have conversations, or stay in a long-term relationship. Attention impairment can be frustrating. And, those around you may see you as arrogant. Yet, it is your mind crying out to you to deal with the unhealed childhood trauma.

#3: Extreme Desire to Stay in Control

Are you the type of person who plans for everything? And, do you get frustrated when things don’t go the way you expect? This extreme need for control is an indication of your distrust for yourself and the world in general. It stems from a childhood traumatic experience that left you feeling helpless and vulnerable.

Hence, over the years, you opt to micro-manage every aspect of your life and worry about things beyond your control.

#4: Extreme Fear of Failure

Having a certain degree of fear is healthy. It triggers your survival instincts, pushing you to make choices that get you out of danger. Often, childhood trauma can make you have a negative belief in yourself and internalize your shortcomings.

At this point, you develop unhealthy fear that outweighs your motivation to succeed. You will shy away from opportunities and stop being creative. Plus, it leads to perfectionism and insecurities.

#5: Fear of Success

Are you always holding yourself back from getting something you want? Is it that you fear what will happen once you get it? This fear of success is the fear of losing what you anticipate getting, even before you get it.

If this habit resonates with you, it could be an indication of your repressed childhood trauma. Think of it as a tendency to unconsciously sabotage your chances of success, originating from when a parent put you up for adoption or when you lost a loved one at a young age.

#6: Struggling To Ask for Help

After undergoing any form of mistreatment or abuse, many people struggle to ask for help. These individuals are too afraid to reach out to someone else, hence, preferring to suffer in silence. The fear of rejection, being seen as weak, or denied by those around them makes it impossible for the wounded person to speak out.

#7: Anger and Self-Harm

Do you lash out at people? And, when dealing with an issue, do you prefer isolating yourself from the rest of your family? Unhealed childhood trauma can cause you to become emotional, volatile, and overly sensitive. Further, you may take out the anger on yourself by abusing food, drugs, and alcohol or having suicidal tendencies.

Introspective & Spiritual Practices for Healing from Childhood Trauma

Identifying the above signs of childhood trauma is your first step towards getting the help you need to heal. Next, I share some practices you can pursue in your healing journey: –

#1: Acknowledge and recognize the trauma

Often, we tend to deny a traumatic experience, hoping it will disappear. Yet, it creates shadow emotions that disrupt your lives when we least expect it. Start your healing journey by accepting yourself as a former victim of childhood trauma. Acceptance is not about justifying the trauma. Instead, it is deciding that you want to deal with it.   

#2: Cry

If you are holding onto emotional pain and are struggling with anger or drug abuse, release these suppressed emotions through crying therapy. Emotional tears will soothe you and release feel-good chemicals that improve your moods instantly.

#3: Let go of your victim mentality

Here, you aim to reclaim control of your life by making choices based on who you are today, not your past pain.

#4: Ask for help

Here, you want to connect and share your experiences with other childhood trauma survivors. Build healthy relationships. Nurture healthy habits.

What bad habits do you have as your way to escape from your pain?

Start replacing them with good ones. Start by identifying the triggers. Keep yourself busy all the time. Also, decide on a substitute for the bad habit. Then, hold yourself accountable to a close friend or family member. Note that some habits like alcohol and drug abuse require professional intervention. For this, work with a therapist or your local support group to get the help you need.

#5: Give yourself time to heal

It takes time to let go and replace misconceptions, poor coping mechanisms, and shadow emotions from childhood. Journalize your healing journey and celebrate small wins.

Conclusion

Is childhood trauma holding you back from achieving your full potential? The out-of-control emotions, misconceptions about ourselves and those around us, or poor coping habits that leave us feeling helpless, ashamed, anxious, and depressed. If you recognize the tell-tale signs of childhood trauma in your life, it could be your inner child trying to tell you that all is not well. Then, make a conscious decision to seek help and start your healing journey.

Some kids go through a series of events that trigger heavy emotions that they can’t get their heads around. These traumatic events come as a shock, forcing a part of the child’s mind to lock and remain frozen in an immature state. Next, the child grows up acting immaturely or saying things that are not entirely correct. It is almost like another person is talking to them. If you are this grown-up child, you could be dealing with a wounded inner child.

Understanding the Inner Child

The Wounded Inner Child

Note that, we all have an inner child. You know those child-like aspects in our lives. However, it becomes a problem when this inner child makes you behave based on your childhood traumatic experiences. For example, you could be struggling with shame, anger, and fear of abandonment, depending on how your parents scolded you or how your peers bullied you. It is your wounded inner child developing coping mechanisms without you even knowing it.

How Do You Work with Your Inner Child?

Working with the inner child is about locating and healing this wounded child in us. Unlike other healing techniques, the inner child healing practice makes you look at yourself as a child. You take up a parent role and correct misconceptions and unresolved issues that interfere with your lifestyle decisions to date.

Moreover, kids learn by asking lots of questions. Likewise, our healing technique starts by asking the inner child a series of questions about our forgotten dreams, expectations, hopes, and fears. So what are the questions to ask your inner child?

The Dialogue: Re-parenting Yourself

Set aside some quiet time alone. It could be in your study room, besides a campfire in your backyard, or a picnic spot at the park. Set up your relaxing area, then question yourself and give honest answers to these questions: –

#1: What do you wish your parents knew about you?

Did you grow up having poor or no communication with your parents? Were they too strict? If so, what things about you would you wish you could tell them. It could be that you lie only to protect your mom from your abusive dad. And, when you go silent, you don’t mean to be rude. Whatever you hold back against your parents or superiors, now is the time to bring it forth and deal with it.

#2: What gets you excited and happy every morning?

Every child grows up with a passion for what they want to become. Yet, they face adults who discourage them. In turn, the kids end up pursuing careers to fit in and live an average lifestyle. Asking the inner child about their drive evokes those carefree happy feelings kids have.

#3: What would you do if you won a million-dollar jackpot today?

This question helps to bring back your childhood dreams and ambitions. By answering it, you question the things that restrict you from reaching your full potential right now. That way, you can differentiate between actual limits and your fears.

#4: If you were to advise your adult self, what would you tell him or her? What would you want this adult to remember about you?

This question addresses any self-esteem issues you have. It gets you to open up and be honest about how you view yourself vis-à-vis how you would wish those around you see you. The answers help you acknowledge your strengths and accept your flaws. Likewise, you will relate better with your loved ones.

#5: If you were to re-write your life story, how would it read? Who would you want to be the main characters?

If you love storytelling, here is a great chance to look at yourself as an outsider. Rewriting the story of your life takes stock of all your meaningful moments from childhood up to now. Hence, we remind ourselves that we are relevant to our local communities. 

Give this story a theme. Is this the theme you wanted from childhood? If not, divert this story to the person you want to be. Do this by making healthy lifestyle changes.

#6: If you were to relocate, where would you want to live?

Deciding about where you live is one of the most important decisions you will ever make. It reflects where you want to make an impact, start a family, establish a career, and grow old. Yet, many adults feel they are a victim of their bad choices. They feel stuck in jobs they hate, relationships they feel out of love, or communities with unrealistic expectations.

Exploring your relocation options helps you see that you can get out of a rat race or make drastic decisions to start your life afresh.

#7: Where do you see yourself 10 years ago?

Finally, permit yourself to go back in time. Think of a moment a decade ago or at a time just before a traumatic experience. For example, did you lose a loved one in the 9/11 tragedy? Go back to a month before that disaster. How were you?

What choices did you make now that you find hard to make today? If this traumatic experience never took place, how would you see yourself today? This final question assesses the impact of the traumatic events in our current life.

Importance of Inner Child Healing Practice

These questions to ask your inner child helps us reconnect with that frozen, immature part of our brains. It takes us back to that traumatic childhood past, highlighting how it is affecting our adult lives. Next, we come up with remedies to recondition the mind to undo all those biased thoughts about ourselves or life as a whole.

More so, inner child healing practices open up a gateway to long-forgotten possibilities, helping us pick up from when we stopped dreaming or being ambitious.

Conclusion

Inner child healing practice is a technique that permits us to heal from the most difficult childhood scars. This healing journey to wholeness must be at a child-like level. It begins with a series of questions to our inner child to connect with it. Once awake, we can open up possibilities and embrace our talents and creativity that lay dormant all these years.