The Inner Child

 

The inner child is the subconscious part of our mind that stores all our emotional experiences from childhood. It holds emotions, memories, experiences, and beliefs within the subconscious.

The inner child is that part of the subconscious mind that has been picking messages since childhood, long before we became mature enough to fully process what was going on mentally and emotionally. This is why the concept of the inner child is an important element in psychology and mental health because it helps to understand our personality, behaviour, habits, and thought patterns. 

Our inner child remembers the loving embrace and warm re-assuring words from our parents or caregivers whenever we did something they approved of. The inner child also remembers the looks of disapproval and the face of dossapointment whenever we were involved in the 'wrong things.'

The inner child remembers the pleasant memories; the trips to our grandparents, the visits from our cousins, presents and gifts on our birthdays. It also remembers nasty experiences; the visit to the doctors, our parents fighting, the bullying in school. 

The psychoanalysis Theory by Sigmund Freud states that our personality, choices, and habits are influenced to a significant degree by the subconscious mind (which constitutes 92% of the entire mind by the way). If this is true, then positive, healthy experiences from childhood could translate to healthy positive outlook of the world including relationships. On the other hand, painful childhood experiences would translate to wounded inner child which then calls for inner work/inner healing in order to develop a healthy personality that is able to cope through and manage present and future experiences effectively.