Your Inner Child isn’t your True Self. These are two very different concepts which shouldn’t be misunderstood as identical aspects of your psyche.

Inner Child healing is powerful, and many people experience feelings of childlike exuberance when they start healing the legacy of unresolved childhood challenges, but lazy language is hindering our collective development at the so-called 'higher bands of consciousness'.

The Inner Child is an archetypal and embodied entity: it is both the memory and experiences of your actual childhood as well as your archetypal understanding of childhood as a distinct stage of life.

There are somatic, symbolic and narrative aspects of The Inner Child, and these qualities overlap into complex formations depending on your unique history and personality. Inner Child healing is mainly focused on issues of attachment, safety and ego expression.

Your True Self, however, isn’t to be found at any particular age and it cannot be collapsed into any nameable part or archetype such as The Inner Child - and this fact holds true regardless of how much you might appreciate a certain favourable aspect of yourself.

The True Self is both embodied and transcendent, it is the words and the space between the words, as well as the book which holds the record of your entire history and your entire future. It’s essence is beyond categorisation, and it is likewise timeless if you attempt to answer the following question:

Are you more your True Self at aged 5 or aged 55?

An impossible question because your identity is a process, not a single or extended chapter on your timeline.

Your True Self is that which expresses and evolves beyond conscious awareness, and it’s worth taking a step back to acknowledge that we can never precisely pinpoint the True Self because it has roots into both the upper and lower unconscious - which are always at least partially outside of our awareness.

The True Self is much larger than The Inner Child.

Collapsing psychological concepts like The Inner Child into feel-good concepts like ‘Your Higher Self’ or ‘True Self’ is one of my personal frustrations in the world of internet self healing, but I understand why some people experience their Inner Child being their True Self before they’ve gone deeper into more complex forms of parts work and subpersonality formation.

I’m getting somewhat technical in this caption, but it’s worth pausing to reflect on these ideas if you’re interested in full spectrum integration and lifelong individuation.

I’ll say it simply: The Inner Child is not your True Self or your Real Self.

I recommend studying Transpersonal Psychology if you want to get precise with your psychological education.

Pick up a copy of The Primal Wound by John Firman and Ann Gila and learn the critical differences between the various aspects of your identity - this book is a community favourite.

Jordan