Latest / Celeste The Therapist / EP 519 Nurturing Your Inner Child: Episode 3 of 5

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EP 519 Nurturing Your Inner Child: Episode 3 of 5 · Celeste The Therapist

0:02
Hey, thank you so much for joining another episode of Celeste, the therapist podcast.
0:06
My name is Celeste. I'm a therapist from Boston. If you've never been
0:09
into this podcast before, I just want to say thank you so much for being here. What
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I do on this podcast is I give you 20 to 25 minute episodes
0:18
of things that we go through and I talk about why
0:21
it happens and what we can do to work through it. My goal in
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this podcast is to just help shift the way you think. So if
0:28
you find yourself feeling stuck in life, this platform is
0:31
for you. I've been podcasting since 2018, July
0:35
2nd to be exact. And if you go back in
0:38
time to older episodes, You'll find that I've been
0:42
talking to people that are doing things to empower the lives
0:45
of others. A couple years ago, that changed because
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I opened a wellness center and didn't have the capacity to
0:52
interview people anymore. So I still wanted the podcast
0:56
to continue going on. And so I come to you with these little
0:59
short tidbits to help you shift your thought process. Now,
1:03
if you are here, so I'm doing a five-part series on healing
1:06
your inner child. This is episode three of a five-part series.
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So if you are here, this is episode 519, and you haven't
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listened to 518 or 517, I suggest
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you pause it, stop it right now, head on over to
1:21
the first part of the series of 517, where
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we introduce the inner child. Five, 18 is
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where we understand the inner child in a
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different way and how it operates. So how your experiences
1:36
shape your adulthood, right? That is the
1:39
second part. And today we are talking about
1:43
nurturing our inner child. So each of those episodes, you
1:46
will have homework assignments, you will have insights, and
1:50
I don't want you to rush through them. I want you to give yourself time to
1:54
absorb the content. and that way you
1:57
can actually work through it. I just wanna also say working on your inner
2:01
child is just a lifelong process, right? I've gotten
2:05
so much insight into understanding myself better and there are moments
2:08
where my inner child still comes up and I'm able to
2:11
nurture it in a really great way. We're gonna learn about that today.
2:15
And it's allowed me to have more peace in
2:18
life, right? I used to think like, how can I have peace when
2:21
all of the things that has happened to me has happened, how
2:25
do you find peace in life? And having
2:29
this awakening that there is still joy,
2:33
I can still have peace, has given me passion to
2:36
want to share it with the world. And that's why I created this podcast. If
2:41
you're new to my platform, all the things I do is because I
2:44
know there's a different way of operating in life, especially
2:48
for people that are black in America. I understand the
2:53
way that the system was never designed for us and how that can
2:56
sit in our psyche. So a lot of the things that I do, I
3:00
do it because I understand and I've been there, right? And
3:05
so because I've been there and I feel like We
3:08
all have a purpose in life and I feel like my purpose is
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to help people heal. I have a way of reaching people
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where regardless of your race, sex, socioeconomic status, I
3:20
feel like my content tends to speak to people. Let's
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jump into the episode again. If y'all ain't seen the
3:27
last two episodes 518, 517, please don't
3:30
start here. Cause I don't want, I don't want you to jump into
3:34
the content without seeing the other things. And also if you're listening to
3:37
me on audio podcast, this platform is also on YouTube. I'm
3:41
a very visual learner. Like I need to, when I was in college, I
3:44
needed to see it. I needed to write it. I needed to hear it.
3:47
I had so many ways that I, the way I learned is just
3:51
so many different ways. So, um, I have visuals for
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you if that's something that is beneficial for you. So
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today we're talking about recognizing and nurturing your inner child. So
4:02
understanding your inner child's voice, just so we're clear, it's
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not like this little voice inside of you, like, am I hearing things?
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No. So inner child's voice, it doesn't sound like a
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literal voice, but rather a surge of emotions, needs, and
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reactions that feel disproportionately big for the adult
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situation at hand. This is signigly, signigly,
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signigly, Oh my goodness,
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signaling an unmet childhood need
4:30
or an emotional wound being triggered. One thing I tell my clients, right?
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I'll say if the emotion doesn't fit the situation, there's probably
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something deeper. A lot of times this comes up in relationships, especially
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intimate relationships where it feels like something big like
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you're having this big feeling and then you're looking at the situation
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and you're judging yourself, you're maybe even acting
4:54
on that feeling. But deep down inside, you're like, I don't know what this
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is about. Like, why am I so erratic? Why am I feeling how
5:01
I'm feeling over this one thing that took place, right? So
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a lot of times when the emotion doesn't fit the situation, kind
5:08
of check in with yourself because there could be something deeper going on.
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And a lot of times we don't know what's going on. And so we feel so
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bad for how we feel, you know? And so how can
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this manifest, right? What does this look like? So it can manifest
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as, like, sudden anxiety. You may have anger or sadness. Like,
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for me, it would manifest mostly, like, a lot of sadness, especially at
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night. Like, during the day, you know, work, go to school, doing
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all these things at night when I was by myself. And I
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would feel it, like, this heavy surge would come over me. Sadness
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that doesn't fit the current moment, right? Again, it doesn't fit
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the current moment. So I'm like in college. I'm doing all these things. I
5:47
have a roof over my head I have clothes over my back, you know And
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I'm working in a field with people that are unhoused,
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struggling with substance use. I'm working with people that
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don't have a lot of things and their necessities met. And
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so for me, I would always feel bad
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that I felt bad. I'm like, why are you so sad? What's wrong?
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I would want something to happen. I never planned
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anything to happen, but I would be like, man, if I could just get hit by a
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car, if I can just something so that I
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can justify how I feel, right? And I know
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a lot of people feel that way, right? I'll never forget, I
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was going out, I remember I was going to the club and there was a shooting
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that took place and they were going to wrap the wrapped
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the tape and i remember thinking like oh let me leave before my
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car gets blocked in i was so desensitized to
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trauma and i just wanted i
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just hoped that something would happen so that i can have a
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reason i'm putting that in air quotes for people that are not watching me on youtube i
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wanted a reason for how i'm feeling because God forbid, the
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experiences that I've had, they've always been a part of me.
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And this is the thing, we tend to not understand that the
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things that's happened in the past, how they affect us in
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the present, right? I meet with people on day one, they talk about
7:10
this story. And they'll be like, yeah, but
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that was 20 years ago. I said, yeah, but that was your experience. So how
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could you just callously say that was 20 years
7:19
ago? We're not taught on how things continue to pass
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on and how they show up in our lives, right? And
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so it's really important to have compassion with
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yourself as you're experiencing these things. And we'll
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continue to talk about that as we move forward. But the compassion has
7:37
really been a game changer for me when it comes to
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being able to recognize that inner voice that's
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coming up. So sadness that doesn't fit the current moment, but
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it feels like a younger self's emotional flashback. You might
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also notice behaviors like people-pleasing, that was me, avoidance,
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negative self-talk, or craving attention which stem from an unhealed
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child-like part of your personality. So
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these are some of the ways that your inner child's voice can
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tend to come up, right? And so if any
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of these things fits you, I do need you to like just pause
8:15
and reflect, right? There's something powerful about having like
8:19
a diagnosis or a better understanding of what's going on. I
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feel like a lot of times we're going through the motions of life. We're
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struggling because nobody's talking about it.
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We're finding ourselves feeling bad for how we're feeling
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instead of saying like, oh, I'm an adult. These things have
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happened. That's why I feel how I feel. This
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healing my inner child work has been a game changer in
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the love, self-love, the peace that I have for myself.
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Common signs that indicate the inner child is seeking attention, right?
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Our inner child is with us, right, until we die. And signs
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that you may be seeking attention, your inner child, it
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often manifests as feeling emotionally overwhelmed, right? I
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would always feel emotionally overwhelmed. Low self-esteem is
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another one. Attention-seeking behaviors like interrupting, excessive
9:15
talking, acting out, or seeking constant
9:19
validation. Other indicators include emotional dysregulation, fear
9:23
of abandonment. The fear of abandonment is huge. I know a lot of people struggle with
9:26
that fear of abandonment, right? So you'll notice this
9:29
in some of your relationships, right? Friends, family.
9:35
You allow certain things to take place because you don't want to
9:38
lose them, but then you're losing yourself in the process, right? But
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this inner child is afraid of being alone. Difficulty
9:45
with boundaries, right? That goes hand in hand. Like when
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I think about the fear of abandonment, and so you
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allow your boundaries to be crossed, right? Because you
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don't even know what they are. You never even identified them for yourself. because
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you don't want to lose those relationships or general neediness
10:03
for reassurance from others, right? When
10:07
we are constantly seeking validation from others, right?
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I always ask people like, what is that? And what
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is your inner voice saying? Like, do you validate yourself? Like I
10:17
get validation from others, but I promise you when I started coming online
10:21
years ago, my voice was powerful.
10:25
I just cared about my, I just noticed my voice as
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the thing that stood out. And then over the
10:33
years I've gotten validation, obviously feedback from people
10:37
that enjoy my content. But when I think about the
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first step to me kind of stepping out of my comfort
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zone and doing these things and having joy and peace, it
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was like that voice inside of me just started to have so
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much more compassion and care. Let's
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reflect, let's take a pause, right? I just said a lot. So I want
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you to take a moment to reflect on when you last felt
11:03
a strong emotional reaction. Consider what your
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inner child might be trying to communicate in those moments. So my
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listening to this may be like, it just happened just now, right? Or it just happened yesterday. Um,
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if you need to pause this podcast, come back to it, please do, but just
11:17
take some time to reflect. Like when was the last time I felt
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that, right? I mean, People who work with me
11:23
get the pleasure of being able to process these things in
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our sessions. And I do understand therapy is not accessible for
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everyone. And sometimes it's just hard to find the right
11:33
therapist. And I originally started this podcast just
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because of that, right? Like when I started therapy back in my early twenties,
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it was a, I don't remember the lady's name, but she was really good. But
11:45
I was, that's how traumatic, that's how desensitizing, disassociating
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I was in my life during that time. And, but
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it worked, it was helpful. And so, and I
11:57
had health insurance because I've always worked. So I took
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for granted that people may not be able to
12:04
find a therapist or have insurance until I became a private practice in
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2015. And I started to realize like, oh snap, like everybody doesn't have access
12:13
to therapy. Cause all you hear is like, get a therapist, get a psychiatrist. But
12:16
nobody talks about the fact that it's not always accessible. And
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that's what birthed this podcast in 2018 because
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I wanted people to know like there's other ways of healing. So take
12:28
a second to reflect, right? When was the last time you
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had a strong, intense, emotional reaction and consider what
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was my inner child trying to communicate to me in these moments? So
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nurturing and validating your inner child, why is it so important to
12:44
nurture your inner child, right? So this is, this is important, right?
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Cause the more we nurture our inner child, the
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inner child will stop trying to like coming up, come up
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like a, Tsunami, right? Like something happens and
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the tsunami happens, you know, you may be the person or you may know somebody where
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you'd be like, Damien, I was acting like a kid. Why are their responses come
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out that way? Because that inner child is leading the way, right?
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Do you really want your 10 year old self in that state to
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always take charge right because sometimes the
13:15
emotion so if I um struggle with
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uh having a fear of losing someone because let's
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say when I was younger I lost somebody and nobody ever talked
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about it and then that emotion
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comes up I'm about to be 43 y'all at 43 years
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old that emotion comes up And if I'm not mindful
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that this emotion is coming up in this moment, but it's not the same
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thing that happened when I was 10 years old, my 10 year
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old self is going to lead the way. So you can't help sometimes
13:49
the emotion that comes up, but if you're not aware of
13:52
it, some of your decision-making begins to happen because of
13:56
something in the past, right? Does that make sense? So in
14:01
2020 something can happen at 10 years old 20 years later at
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30 years old The emotion that happened at 10 years old can
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feel exactly like what's happening right now in this moment And
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that's because our mind doesn't have concept of time Logically,
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I know it's 2025 but my mind doesn't have access
14:19
to that logic, right? So the
14:22
importance of nurturing, right? So nurturing your child is essential because
14:26
it allows you to address and heal your emotional wounds, leading
14:30
to greater self-acceptance, improved self-esteem, and
14:34
more resilient, authentic adult self, right?
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When you can work on becoming aware of what's
14:41
happening in real time, you're not gonna find yourself always
14:45
responding to things in a way that you
14:48
regret in the future, or a way that makes you feel bad
14:52
or feel drained, right? So by validating your inner child's
14:56
unmet needs, the fears that come up, and the feelings, you're
14:59
providing the self-love and compassion that may have
15:03
lacked in the past, ultimately fostering that inner peace,
15:06
emotional regulation, and healthier relationships. a lot of times those
15:10
unmet needs weren't because there was abuse in the home right sometimes there
15:13
were there was abuse in the home but sometimes it
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literally was because your parents didn't know that you
15:20
needed that or had the capacity to give that to you everything
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you know some people may say like oh like my parents was good
15:28
or had a good life And so that doesn't negate
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the fact that some of your emotional needs were not met. Some
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things may have happened and you didn't get clarity
15:38
on it, right? It wasn't processed. And so when it's not processed,
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your mind is still processing it and making sense of
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it. And sometimes it can seem faulty the way it makes sense.
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And then you can grow up and start to believe
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that faultiness that takes place, right? If my parent
15:57
came home drunk, upset
16:00
all the time because they had a bad day at work, and
16:04
they start becoming angry with me because my shoes out,
16:08
like nothing's ever right, right? I start feeling like
16:11
I am not enough, or I start feeling like
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everything I do is wrong, right? because my parent came home
16:19
under the influence, screaming, angry,
16:23
and would point out things that was not right,
16:28
then I can hold on to that and become a whole
16:31
adult. And even though I've done things well,
16:36
they'll never feel right because nobody's ever processed that thing
16:40
of, the parent coming home and
16:45
creating all this chaos, nobody ever said, hey, Celeste, that
16:48
wasn't your fault, right? So then as you become older, you
16:51
don't realize your personality is being built by
16:55
the experiences that you're having. And a lot of times,
16:58
people aren't having conversations with you. They're not saying like, hey,
17:03
you're not a bad person. This is wrong, what's going on.
17:07
Life is just lifing for you. And so some
17:11
of the ways that we start to think and act and
17:14
some of the ways that we are so hard on ourselves has
17:17
a lot to do with some of the experiences we have had. And
17:21
so if we can work on understanding
17:25
those emotions when they come up, having compassion when
17:28
they come up, life will start to look a little different for
17:32
us because we won't be so consumed, like our system
17:35
won't feel so consumed with all of these emotions that we have
17:39
a hard time expressing. So you
17:43
may be like, okay, Celeste, you want me to nurture my inner child? What
17:46
does that look like? Right? I want to give you, and if again,
17:50
I should have said this at the top of the top of the podcast, but definitely take
17:53
notes, right? Cause these are things you're going to go back to. I'm going to do this five part
17:57
series, but you can always go back to this content. to
18:01
like refresh yourself right to go over it over and
18:04
over again it's important like these things that i'm talking about
18:08
i constantly do them i don't just do them one time and
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it's like hey yeah i'm healed no i'm always i have so much
18:15
compassion with myself right so i'm gonna give you three categories if
18:18
you are listening and not watching um but it says
18:22
self-compassion positive self-talk and
18:26
creating a safe space for emotions. So when it
18:29
comes to self-compassion, Treating yourself like
18:33
your friend. When people talk to me about, they'll
18:39
talk to me about something that they're going through and how they speak to
18:42
themselves. And if they have a kid or a friend, I say, oh, this is how you would talk to your daughter.
18:46
Or this is how you would talk to your friend. And people get emotional because
18:49
they start to realize, why am I so hard on myself? So
18:52
be mindful on the way that you talk to yourself. Practicing
18:57
self-soothing statements. You know what? Today was
19:00
hard, but it's going to be okay, right? Not like, oh, today
19:04
was hard. It sucks. Like, F this. Like, sometimes we
19:07
don't realize, like, we're walking around with a big bully. We're
19:11
walking around. How do you heal when you're constantly
19:15
being negative? It's really hard. Accepting imperfections,
19:19
things just won't always go right. Sometimes things are going to
19:22
go wrong. Sometimes you're going to make a mistake and it's okay.
19:26
But if I stay with that example, I grew up with a parent that's always
19:30
so angry and comes home and takes it out on me.
19:34
And so obviously that inner dialogue, it's not my voice,
19:37
it's that parent's voice that was angry all the time. When things
19:41
go wrong, it's hard for me to have compassion because I
19:44
remember all those moments where I didn't have it, right?
19:47
So maybe work on reminding yourself like,
19:51
hey, like this didn't go well, but it's okay, right?
19:54
I'm a good person, like being mindful of accepting that imperfections.
19:59
So that self-compassion, positive self-talk, challenging those
20:03
negative thoughts. The negative thoughts are going to come. You can't help it. I
20:06
can't help it. Anytime I'm starting something new, it's
20:09
like, oh, Celeste, can you really do that? Anytime
20:14
I have this wave of emotion, something, this negative
20:17
voice may come in, but I challenge it at the door. I
20:21
love analogies, if you've been listening to this podcast for a long time, you know
20:24
I love analogies and I've used this before, but if you have an
20:29
unwanted guest and they knock on your door, right?
20:33
In this case, with the negative thoughts, they don't knock on your door,
20:37
they just come in, they're just busting through, right? And so,
20:40
if somebody comes in your house just busting through, are you just gonna let them stay on
20:43
your couch and stay there? Right a lot of times our
20:47
negative thoughts have had free reign in our life in our house Right
20:51
so that the negative thought comes in is sleeping on the couch and
20:55
it's chilling, it's not paying rent, all of a sudden you want to
20:59
call yourself reframing negative thoughts. You're going
21:03
to have a challenge with replacing. It's going to be hard. If
21:06
somebody's been staying in your house rent-free and all of a sudden you want to charge rent and
21:09
say you got to go, it's going to take some time to get them out because
21:13
they may push back. Things happen. And
21:17
when it comes to negative thoughts, a
21:20
lot of times we don't realize we've allowed our negative thoughts to win. We've
21:24
allowed this thought to come in. It starts as
21:28
a seed, right? It starts as something small. I'm trying to see if I
21:32
have something to show you to kind of... Let's say it
21:35
started like this. If you're looking at it on the video, I have a
21:38
top. It starts as a top. This is the thought. And
21:42
so if we don't... say like,
21:46
Oh, that's not true. Like I can do this. Right. Let's just talk
21:49
about this podcast. I started in 2018. The
21:52
idea came to me and, uh, the beginning of January,
21:57
2018. And I gave myself a date, July 2nd, I was going to start, let's say
22:00
the thought came and it says less, can you really do this podcast? If
22:05
I don't tend to it, It can grow. You see this little
22:08
tree I got back here? It can grow into something like this, like real big. Like
22:12
how something this small grows like this? Because we let
22:15
it flow. And I promise you, if
22:18
you allow that negative thought to come in, your mind will help show you
22:21
ways to confirm it. The same way whatever car
22:25
you're driving, you're seeing that car everywhere. Everybody ain't got your car
22:28
because you got the car. And everybody said, oh, you have a red Toyota? Oh,
22:32
let me get a red Toyota. Everybody didn't go out and get a red Toyota. You're seeing
22:36
the red Toyota every single day when you go outside your house. So
22:39
that's why your mind can easily point it out. I'm
22:43
telling myself I can't start this podcast. My mind starts showing
22:46
me ways that I cannot start this podcast. What
22:49
helps me get going and start this podcast now from 2018? We're in
22:54
2025 and i'm still flowing Why does that happen because I start to
22:57
tell myself? Nope, actually I can start this podcast and
23:00
it's going to be great. It's going to be good Right my goal. I still want to
23:03
heal people across the world people listen to me around the world Right?
23:07
So being mindful on challenging those negative thoughts,
23:10
because if you don't challenge those negative thoughts, I promise you they're going to win. They're
23:14
going to stop you from succeeding. They're going to have you on your deathbed wishing
23:18
that, like, what did I do with my life? Why didn't I just do what I needed to do? Not
23:22
realizing, like, I'm stopping myself from succeeding. Acknowledge
23:26
your strengths that that's important. A lot of times we just acknowledge what's
23:30
not going well what we can't do We don't acknowledge what we can do, right?
23:34
Coming from a strength-based place is so important as
23:38
a therapist. I am very strength-based oriented, right? Yeah,
23:41
we'll talk about what's not happened, but we're gonna talk about what is happening, right?
23:45
and so I need you to be mindful that you're doing that for yourself and And
23:49
then just using encouraging phrases to
23:52
yourself, it's important. I can't stress that enough.
23:55
You're with yourself 24 seven. Are you walking around with somebody encouraging
24:00
or are you walking around with a bully 24 seven? Which
24:04
one feels better? Granted, if you've never had this
24:07
said to you in this way or have done that, I understand how
24:11
challenging it can be. But I promise you, if you
24:14
work on it intentionally daily, Eventually, your
24:18
mind and body will have no other choice but to fall in line with the direction that
24:21
you're taking it. That same car example I used, right? If
24:25
that's the car example, let's say you're so used to negative thoughts.
24:29
If you start speaking positive over your life, your
24:32
mind starts to show you the ways things can happen. There are so many
24:35
things that I'm working on right now in this moment that I have worked on up until
24:39
this moment And it's not because I'm a genius. It's
24:42
not because I'm very smart, right? There's I
24:45
have a lot of weaknesses around learning. I just told
24:49
you it takes me a while to learn what my diligence
24:52
my consistency and also I picture myself and
24:56
the space that I want to be. So I visualize it
25:00
and what happens is my mind starts to show me the possibilities. So
25:04
even though that negative thought's coming in, it's hard for it to take
25:08
up any space because I'm constantly visualizing the
25:11
direction that I'm going. And then the last
25:15
section is creating safe space for emotions, right? Journaling is
25:18
a great tool. I can't stress this enough. I even have a guided
25:22
journal I created called 365 Days of Intentional Living,
25:26
where I'm pointing, if you're watching me on YouTube, you can see it.
25:30
But each day, I ask you a different question. I ask you how
25:33
you're feeling. But you don't need to buy my journal to journal. You
25:36
can get a notebook. You can use your Notes app in
25:40
your phone, right? Journaling is a great way. Mindfulness,
25:44
right just taking time to be still if that feels hard
25:47
you can go on youtube and type in like five minute, uh meditation Right,
25:52
like try to start sitting with yourself so you can get more
25:56
clarity on what's going on Let me be clear if you've never sat with yourself before
26:00
this can feel like a very daunting task And that's why I say
26:03
start small, right? Maybe you start with two minutes next
26:06
week three minutes The next week, four minutes, start to
26:10
build it up, right? Setting boundaries, right? Nurturing
26:13
your inner child means you got to protect it. Setting boundaries can
26:17
be one of the hardest things you have to do. Saying no can
26:20
feel so hard. A lot of times when people aren't used to saying no,
26:24
it feels like they're doing something wrong. I get it, right? Be
26:28
mindful of like what boundaries you're trying to create it because
26:32
create for yourself Where are the areas that you feel like you're lacking boundaries? Because
26:36
if you don't identify that what's going to happen is you're going
26:39
to allow any and everything to go on If you start to identify
26:43
your boundaries write it down and make it plain I promise you your mind
26:46
will help you start to remember the thing that you said you wanted to do,
26:50
right? It's not going to be an easy overnight transition, but
26:54
I promise you it's possible and then Other
26:57
way you can allow yourself to be
27:00
nurtured. Allow your emotions to flow. Stop judging yourself for
27:04
how you feel. I told you I used to feel bad that I felt bad. Now
27:07
I don't feel bad no more. I'd be like, oh my gosh, Celeste, that must have
27:10
been so hard. When these emotions come up, I identify the emotions.
27:14
I use a feelings wheel. A feelings wheel can be your best
27:17
friend. And I allow my emotions to flow, because
27:21
guess what? I'm not a robot. I'm human. When people be like, oh, I'm sorry for
27:24
crying. Why are you apologizing for being human? They laugh and
27:27
they're like, you're right, you're right. We don't really think about it because a lot of
27:31
times, if we were sad, it's like, what are you sad for? You
27:34
got food on your table, clothes on your back. That's the mentality a
27:37
lot of us have grown up in. Even as an adult, when we're feeling
27:41
sad, we'd be doing the same thing to ourselves. It's like, why are we doing that to
27:44
ourselves? We're not being fair at all. Some
27:48
techniques to connect with your inner child. That's
27:51
important to continue connecting and you may find that That's
27:55
something that has been challenging for you, or you may not have thought
27:58
about what that really looks like. So you can write
28:01
a letter to your younger self, that's something. Engaging
28:05
in play and creative activities like drawing. On
28:09
this picture, you could see somebody blowing bubbles, right? Just
28:12
think if you've ever done something, played at a park with your kid, or
28:16
ran, or anything that was related to your childhood
28:20
experiences, how'd you feel when that happened? That's you
28:23
connecting to your inner child. Practicing visualization
28:27
and guided meditation to picture and comfort your inner child. If
28:31
you have a hard time doing that on YouTube, I'm
28:34
all about free resources. On YouTube, you can type in
28:37
guided meditation for inner child visualization and
28:41
it'll come up. Different people's voices will come
28:44
up and will walk you through a guided meditation for free.
28:49
journaling to understand your emotions and needs. We talked about that. Then
28:52
engaging in self-compassion by giving yourself love and care you might
28:56
have lacked as a child. These are important. Again,
29:00
something happened 20 years ago, you didn't get the love and you're thinking like,
29:03
well, why am I still struggling because now I'm an
29:06
adult? Because it's a part of who you are. You're
29:10
still you, regardless of how much years
29:13
have gone by, your experiences have affected
29:17
you in some way, whether good or bad, right? They've
29:21
created this person that you are today. And even,
29:24
you know, as you're working on this process and
29:28
you're maybe grieving the life you didn't have or
29:31
didn't realize you didn't have, I also need you to be mindful
29:34
that you're not judging yourself for the choices that you've made because you
29:38
had to do what you had to do to get through moments in life. Right.
29:42
So just be mindful, like as, as we're working on
29:45
this journey, we're working on it with compassion. I
29:49
need you to have more compassion for yourself. Oh,
29:56
I went backwards. Okay. So some practical exercises
30:00
for home that you can do. Journaling
30:04
prompts. So set aside a few minutes each day to check
30:08
in with your inner child. You can ask questions
30:11
like, what do you need today? Or how are you feeling?
30:15
Right? That question, how are you feeling, is
30:18
a question I'm constantly asking my kids at night for
30:22
our check-ins, but in general, like, how did you sleep? How are
30:25
you feeling? Right? And I make them actually use
30:29
the feelings well, give me an emotion off the feelings chart. And
30:32
then a playful activity, you can visit a park, engage in your
30:36
favorite childhood game or watching a nostalgic movie. One
30:40
of my favorite movies were like Aladdin King and
30:43
Beauty and the Beast. And every time I watch it or Three Ninjas or
30:46
Home Alone, there's this like feeling that comes up that allows
30:50
me to kind of connect with my inner child. Let's
30:55
just take a deep breath if you still with me because that was a lot right
30:59
that was a lot So now we're going into our
31:03
homework assignment and so,
31:07
you know, these assignments are are here to help
31:10
you reconnect with the content and Um, and so
31:14
I have three different things that you can do or you can do them all
31:17
right Um, so we're gonna start with thinking about a
31:20
daily check-in So setting five to ten minutes aside each day
31:23
to check in with your inner child find a quiet space Asking
31:27
what does my inner child need and how am I feeling right? That's
31:31
one Number two, you can journal, right?
31:35
That's one of the things. So writing a letter to your inner child,
31:39
and this letter, you can introduce yourself as the adult you are now, right?
31:43
Express love, understanding, and support as you're writing it.
31:47
Acknowledge any feelings or experiences your inner child may
31:50
have gone through, and then offer reassurance and encouragement for
31:54
healing and growth. So, you know, this is
31:57
an example of something you can do if you prefer like,
32:01
you know what? I'm gonna do the daily check-in. That's great. If you're a
32:04
writer and you want to like get into your creative bag, that's great too.
32:08
And if you are somebody that does creative expression, right?
32:12
engage in a creative activity that resonates with your inner child. So
32:16
you can draw or color a picture that represents your inner child. You
32:20
can write a short story or a poem about a favorite childhood memory
32:24
or play a game or doing any activity you love, right? These
32:27
are three examples on things that you can do to
32:31
help you go through and really think about this
32:35
content that we had today about nurturing your inner child.
32:39
Something that is helpful. And
32:45
then some reflections. So after completing the
32:48
activities, take a moment to reflect on the experience. So I want you
32:51
to consider if you decide to do this homework. And again, I
32:55
hope you're taking notes and obviously, you know, you can pause this, replay it, whatever. If
32:59
you're not on YouTube, find me on YouTube, Celeste the Therapist, because it's
33:03
all written too. What emotions surfaced
33:06
during the check-in or creative activity? How
33:10
did it feel to connect with your inner child? And
33:15
then what insights did you gain about your
33:18
needs and feelings? These are really great
33:22
reflection points. So
33:28
what's next? We have two
33:31
more episodes left of this series. In
33:35
two weeks, I'll be back to talk about healing techniques and strategies.
33:40
Then the last episode in this series, we're talking about
33:44
moving forward and integrating the inner child. Like
33:49
I said at the beginning, regardless of how much work I've
33:52
done, I feel like I can still feel it, my inner child come
33:55
up. I want to talk about that. What does that look like?
33:59
How do we move forward? You can always
34:02
cycle through these episodes again, right? We get to episode five,
34:06
right? And then three months later, you're like, you know what? Let me go and refresh my
34:09
memory. That's the beautiful thing about me creating this podcast
34:13
is that it's free. Everybody has access to it. And
34:17
I'm creating this content in a way where you can take notes and
34:20
feel like you're in an actual class, right? You
34:24
know, I gotta give resources because this content's hard. And
34:27
also like, if you need to take a break from the content, I understand. I
34:31
hope you understand, you know, self-compassion. But there
34:35
is a Lifeline number you can call.
34:38
So using 988-LIFELINE. You can text or
34:42
chat on this Lifeline and it's confidential. You
34:46
can also talk to a crisis counselor for
34:50
free, 741-741. These are two resources. Obviously, your
34:53
therapist, if you have a therapist, it's great. Somebody that you
34:57
trust is great, right? I
35:00
love this content, but I also know this content can feel heavy and bring up
35:03
a lot of things. So I just want you to know, like, if it's
35:06
bringing up a lot for you and it feels hard, it's okay, you're human, remember?
35:10
We're gonna have self-compassion and self-love. And
35:14
if you wanna find me, so like I said, I have a wellness center located in Stoughton,
35:17
Massachusetts. You can find my website, stwyt.com. We
35:23
have therapists that are available to work with
35:26
you if you're looking for that. We have in-person somatic classes, we
35:29
have sound healing, mindful yen, rest and recharge.
35:33
We have trauma-informed yoga, and we have a restored class
35:37
Friday night, the last Friday of every month. So
35:40
if you're looking to work on some somatic work with your body
35:44
and you're in the Stoughton area, check us out. You
35:47
can find us on social media, stwyt.com. It stands for
35:51
shifting the way you think. If you want to follow me find me personally,
35:54
uh, i'm at celeste the therapist. You can find me at
35:57
celeste the therapist everywhere Um, you can also find
36:01
me celeste therapist.com everywhere as well Uh,
36:04
thank you all so much for rocking out with me if you've been here Uh
36:08
from the beginning of the series. Thank you for being here.
36:12
I appreciate you Um, and until next time beautiful