Inner Child

flower essences for recognizing, acknowledging and integrating a valuable inner resource

An essential part of healing is learning to recognize and listen to your inner child. When we acknowledge and learn from this presence, we learn to accept, heal, and support all aspects of ourselves.

Working with Your Inner Child

Flower essences are excellent tools for helping you connect with your inner child. What is the inner child and why is it important to be conscious of its presence?

Your inner child is the aspect of your consciousness that is naturally innocent, playful, uncomplicated, and whose approach to life is simple and straightforward. It is also a part of you that has an easy sense of connectedness to spirit, where spirit and you are not separate from each other, but an integrated whole. If you experienced dysfunctional behavior on the part of the adults in your childhood, you may need to get in touch with the inner child in order to heal and restore its consciousness to its natural state so that it can be a resource within you.

If you were raised in a dysfunctional family, you may have had to leave your innocence in order to keep yourself safe. You may have had to look out for your physical needs, such as feeding yourself, instead of playing with your friends. You might have had to learn to care for siblings instead of having free time to simply be. You might have had to develop an acute attunement to the emotional state of the adults around you to ensure that you would not be abused in some fashion, instead of daydreaming in a safe environment.

These are just a few examples of how your inner child might have been injured. The important thing to realize is that it is never too late to heal and transform the child-part of yourself so that it can become a source of strength within you. When your inner child is restored to its joyful being, it can bring you simple joy, delight, and creative insight. Instead of reacting with defensive patterns, it becomes easy to be present with what is actually happening in the moment. You develop a freedom in being yourself, unhindered from many knee-jerk reactions that are sourced in the past.

Here are some of the flower essences that you might want to check out specific to inner child work:

Every Child Needs Parents

To work successfully with your inner child, you need to have your inner parents firmly in place. After all, who is going to direct and guide this inner child? No matter what sort of short-comings your parents of origin had, it is never too late to create good parenting patterns within you.

The Inner Father Formula is for internalizing and accessing healthy inner father patterns. The formula is excellent for helping you learn to father your inner child, to encourage you to move on ahead in your development, to stand by you as you attempt new and perhaps difficult things.

Inner Mother Formula is for internalizing and accessing healthy inner mother patterns. The formula is excellent for helping you learn to mother your inner child, to provide emotional reassurance, to soothe you when you feel insecure, and to nurture you physically and emotionally.

The Vulnerability of the Child

You may feel resistance to your inner child because you feel too vulnerable and insecure. Big Root Jatropha is an excellent starting place when working with your inner child. The essence helps the inner child know that you will be there and provide protection and support.

The Pattern of Powerlessness

For those who did not develop a firm sense of personal will as a child, Desert Marigold is essential. This essence help you know that you are not at the mercy of a situation, that you can interact as an active participant. It helps you realize that you are grown up now and can make choices that were not available to you as a child, rather than continuing the pattern of powerlessness.

Insecurity

Insecurity often results from an inability to mother your inner child or give yourself comforting, reassuring messages. Mariposa Lily is for helping you integrate mothering messages and use them for yourself. It also supports you in being receptive to connecting more meaningfully with others.

Dependency Issues

For healing issues of the mother/child relationship and of nurturance and self-nurturance, you can use Milky Nipple Cactus. If you feel hopelessly dependent upon others, it supports you in learning to become emotionally autonomous. This flower essence shows ways in which you can care for yourself and use appropriate interactions with others to receive external support when necessary.

Emotional Extremes

For those who engage in emotional extremes as a result of a lack of childhood issues, Pomegranate is an healing force. It supports you in overcoming difficulties in the giving or receiving of nurturing, maternal energy.

Accessing and Releasing Old Memories

Rainbow Cactus is the flower essence to use for accessing and releasing old childhood memories. This flower essence helps you navigate into your past so you can connect with old incidents and situations that need healing and releasing.

Facing Old Monsters

Scorpion Weed is for creating “monsters” out of your fears. A childish way of dealing with fears is to project them onto others, or make them exaggeratedly large so they can be clearly seen. Scorpion Weed helps you face your fear by looking calmly and realistically at them so they become emotionally manageable.

Learning or Re-learning to Play

For those who either did not learn how to play or who have forgotten, A Way to the Elf Formula is excellent. This composite formula restores a child-like sense of fun and jest. Playing is as important to living as breathing. It is through play that we relax, let go of stress, and open ourselves to creativity, easy solution-finding, and a feeling of natural connectedness to spirit.

Growing Pains

Teddy Bear Cholla Cactus is great for inner child work as one of the characteristics of children is that they tend to be impatient, wanting things now! Children often develop parts of themselves faster than others, and often wish they would develop more quickly. This flower essence helps develop patience and acceptance with where you are in your growth process.

Selecting the Most Appropriate Flower Essences

Not every flower essence mentioned above will be appropriate for every person’s specific needs. Different people have different issues. Usually, careful self-examination can clearly show you which of the above flower essences are most appropriate for you.

Though you can use more than one flower essence together, you probably will not need to use all of the ones mentioned here. After contemplating your relationship to this issue, select the flower essences that apply for you, or use an intuitive method to select among them. (For more information on how to do this, see The Art & Technique of Using Flower Essences.) A general guideline is to use four drops at a time, four times a day, in water. However, it is fine to follow your intuition and use them as often as you like. Most people find that they tend to use them more often in the beginning and less often towards the end of the cycle. Unless otherwise indicated, a cycle is usually two to four weeks. [more]

For information on how to clearly evaluate the effects of the essences you have used, see The Art & Technique of Using Flower Essences.

List of the Flower Essences Mentioned in this Article

A Way to the Elf Formula

unable to play, have fun, make jokes

Big Root Jatropha

resisting your inner child because it makes you feel insecure and too vulnerable

Desert Marigold

no (or very little) concept of how to assert your will in a situation; feeling powerless

Inner Father Formula

inability to have healthy inner father patterns and self-talk

Inner Mother Formula

inability to have healthy inner father patterns and self-talk

Mariposa Lily

feeling insecure and unable to give yourself comforting, reassuring messages

Milky Nipple Cactus

feeling dependent upon others and unable to support yourself

Pomegranate

emotional extremes; difficulty in receiving maternal, nurturing energy

Rainbow Cactus

old childhood memories that color the present

Scorpion Weed

fears

Teddy Bear Cholla Cactus

frustration or impatience with your growth process