RAISING YOUR INNER CHILD IS A 24-7 JOB!

Good Morning America reported the story the other day of a mother who turned her back for just a minute on her 16-month-old and BAM! - the toddler swallowed 42 refrigerator magnets! (It was a record for the surgeon who removed the magnets, beating his previous removal record of 20!)

That's the way it is with kids, as any parent who tends to toddlers will tell you. Raising a little child is a 24-7 job of care-taking, monitoring, paying attention, setting boundaries, etc. (By the way, it's not much different babysitting for a puppy, which we are engaged in this weekend. Let yourself get distracted for a moment and your favorite Stegmann slippers that you bought in Santa Fe last year are in shreds.)

Likewise, raising the child within you is no less of an endeavor. Even though that child is no longer physical, and cannot itself go running out into traffic, it can nonetheless cause you to get into a traffic accident if you ignore the tantrum the child inside you is having. I say this to my patients often, and too often, they decide to believe, at their own risk, that I am speaking metaphorically, not literally. Bam! Just broke my favorite wine glass... again! 

That wounded and undeveloped part of us that holds the remnants from our actual childhood - the unmet needs, the suppressed rage and sadness, the irrational fears - that part of us needs to be heard, understood, felt and expressed through healing, therapeutic channels in non-destructive expressions until it is matured. 

The good news is that if you are dedicated to healing this aspect of yourself, it won't take as along as raising a physical child, and instead of costing you tons of money, raising your inner child will free you up to make tons of money! And enjoy great love, Eros and sex, expansive creative expression, good health and true adulthood. And you don't have to send your inner child to college!



Yeah, it's a hard job, but it's for a finite period of time and the pay-off is worth it, folks. Really.