One of the most powerful things I do with my clients is an Inner Child Meditation. You can take a listen here if you’d like to experience it. If you haven’t done an Inner Child Meditation before, just know that it might be pretty intense. And there’s a reason for that. Meeting your inner child as an adult, if you never have before, helps you remember yourself. It reminds you of what you needed then, and you discover how what you needed then is closely related to what you need now. So in the vein of honoring my inner child, I listened to the meditation. Here’s a letter I wrote to her in response. I hope it inspires you to do the same.
Dear Nisha,
Hello to you my love.
You look so quiet and shy, but I can see how much you’re looking for a friend to play with. You want to be creative and talented. You want to be passionate, but you just don’t know how. You don’t know how to find your way because you don’t know if you’re doing it “right”. But you deserve to just try things and enjoy yourself. It’s okay if you just want to dance in the aisles in the grocery store! It’s okay if you don’t draw perfectly. It’s okay if you don’t practice piano perfectly.
I know you always do your math problems perfect, but that doesn’t mean you have to be that good at everything. It’s okay to just play! I promise you that you are enough and you do enough. I promise you that it’s okay for you to be mad. It’s okay if you don’t want to follow the rules. It’s not about being good or bad, because you were born with beautiful and deep goodness. I know you get scared about getting in trouble because you’re not one of those kids. But I know you’re still so kind and gentle to those kids because you also see their beautiful and deep goodness. You see the possibility in everyone because you have such a good heart. You love your friends and they love you. And it is this love that makes everything so joyful!
My little Nisha, you have so much possibility and you love so many things. I’m so glad you love so many things! I know you’re worried about what you’ll be when you grow up because you think you love too many things and you can’t make up your mind. But you don’t need to know now. You don’t even need to know in 30 years! Because guess what? All you have to be is YOU. As long as you are your kind, giving, and playful self, all the happiness will flow to you. Everyone will see the joy you bring and they will want to have that joy with you too! It will be so fun <3<3<3
I am with you now, and I’m so glad you’re with me. I will give you lots of hugs and play with you and explore the world with you. Let’s go on adventures together and laugh when someone catches us doing something silly. We’ll take naps together and not care about when we have to wake up. Because it’s okay to sleep in, work can wait. Let’s draw and color and just see what happens because that’s what creativity is about. When you are just you, you are the best thing for the world.
I’m here for you always. I understand you are scared and don’t know if what you have to give to the world is enough. Being light-skinned enough or American enough or smart enough doesn’t matter. This is all made up. No one is better than anyone else. I know sometimes you think you just need to try harder and be like other people. You feel like something is always missing. You get scared that you won’t be number one and that means you’re broken. But that’s not true because there’s only one you. You are THE ONE.
I love you so much, never forget that no matter how messy your hair is or how much you fall and scrape your knee or drop food on your clothes, you’re still the best Nisha girl out there.
Love,
Me
A Letter to My Inner Child