Free The Secret of Life Wellness: The Essential Guide to Life's Big Questions by Inna Segal Page A

If you feel drawn to delve deeper, you
    may discover more archetypes, such as the nature child, dependent child, and eternal
    child, amongst others. It is important, however, not to get caught up in labels as these
    are just general examples that can be beneficial to explore.
    (Note: For the ease of writing, I will call the inner child it instead of he or she.)
    The Abandoned Child
    The abandoned inner child feels unaccepted, undervalued, and misunderstood. It
    does not feel a sense of belonging and often experiences feelings of loneliness, isola-
    tion, and rejection. The abandoned child seeks constant approval and experiences
    confusion and self-doubt. It can struggle with the concept of growing up and taking
    on responsibilities.
    On the lighter side, through support and healing, the abandoned child can claim its
    independence, courage, and self-empowerment. It will then connect to others from
    the heart and demonstrate compassion and understanding in challenging situations. The
    abandoned child will then feel liberated and creative and play with others without fear
    of being hurt.
    The Wounded Child
    The wounded inner child feels hurt, neglected, and mistreated. It experiences feelings
    of victimhood, violation, and trauma. It is easy for the wounded child to blame others
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    and to see the world as a scary, difficult, painful place. The wounded child often experi-
    ences dysfunction in close relationships with others.
    On the lighter side, the wounded child has an opportunity to learn compassion,
    forgiveness, and self-empowerment. Often through its own healing, the wounded child
    develops a desire to be of service and assistance to others, to help others grow, expand,
    and experience love and healing.
    The Rebellious Child
    The rebellious inner child resists control and order and therefore experiences
    difficulties fitting into society, systems, situations, or the set of rules it has been given.
    The rebel feels limited, bored, and tired of conforming.
    It is easy for the rebel to push boundaries, demand change, disregard others beliefs,
    and get into trouble. The rebel can be blasé about potentially dangerous situations, start
    uprisings, break the law, lie, take advantage of and abuse others, take drugs, gamble, and
    generally reject authority.
    The lighter, softer side of the rebellious child sees the limitations that are presented
    and refuses to buy into them. It can be an explorer, dreamer, and innovator. Creativity is
    the forte of the rebellious child, who often disregards boundaries and moves mountains
    to make its dreams a reality. The rebel can assist others to let go of old outdated ideas
    and introduce them to a more innovative way of living.
    The Divine Child
    The shadow of the Divine child emerges when there is loss of hope and the possibilities
    of life and the magic are not readily apparent, which can manifest in depression, fatigue,
    and lethargy. Under its shadow, this child, who was once an adventurer and saw the
    potential in everything, no longer believes that life is worthwhile, or that there is a possi-
    bility of achieving its dreams.
    On the lighter side the Divine child believes that miracles and blessings are not
    only possible but everyone’s Divine right. The child is full of creativity, inspiration and
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    The Secret of Life Wellness
    wonderful ideas. Life seems like a magical playground. The Divine child believes in
    higher intelligence and connects easily to Divine Love and Wisdom.
    Working with the Inner Child
    You can work with the inner child in many ways. You can do visualization exercises,
    where you relax and imagine a child aspect of yourself and ask this child questions
    about, how it feels, what it believes, what hurts it, what makes it happy, how you can
    support it. Further empowering questions include: what does it need to heal, feel nur-
    tured,