Remember this one? – Recovery of Your Inner Child

Genius is childhood recaptured. – Charles Baudelaire

I took the photo of the book in the featured photo askew because there’s a sale ticket stuck to the right corner. I got it on mega-sale at a price that would be insulting to the author. At least, that’s what I think. If I were an author and poured my heart and soul into my book and then saw it on a sale table for a ridiculously low price and worse yet, with an ugly flourescent green sticker broadcasting said freakishly low price, I would be hurt. Ugh. I might be projecting.

(As an aside, why are these stickers so… sticky? Short of getting out the nail polish remover or straight rubbing alcohol – which could ruin the cover – it’s stuck for good! Arg!)

As you might imagine, I’ve read many books about inner child work. There is no shortage of excellent books. I really liked this one. It’s set up like a workbook, is a bit larger than the average paperback and has lots of illustrations and exercises.

Bottom line: Recovery of Your Inner Child by Lucia Capacchione, Ph.D. is an excellent resource for those who want to get in touch with and heal their inner child.

(The website I linked for the book is also a great resource on its own! Be sure to look around!)

You can tell from the cover that there will be drawing. I love to draw. However, you will be asked to draw with your non-dominant hand to tap into your inner child. You are asked to do the same with dialogues, which immediately resonated with me. So, I went out and picked up a journal just for dialogues and got started.

First, I asked questions as an adult and then responded as my inner child. And then the other way around, from the viewpoint of the child asking questions of the adult.

I talked to my body and my fat, in two separate dialogues. It’s kinda funny… even though it was years ago, I still remember my body as being sad and loving and my fat as sarcastic and defensive. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

I also conversed with a few family members. As in: in my journal only. For this, I touched base with my therapist, as I knew it might be triggering. These “conversations” were where I said things that I was too afraid (for real or perceived reasons) to say out loud. I then responded as I believed the other person would respond.

I won’t fault you if you think it all sounds silly.

Me: Hey, I was talking to my fat the other day…

You: Huh?

While I think this book is “enough” on its own… I will say that my own healing journey began with another book that was strongly suggested to me by my therapist at the time: Healing the Child Within by Charles Whitfield. I no longer have it in my collection but remember that it read like a typical self-help book with tons of great information. It felt very validating, as I was only just beginning to consider how my upbringing affected my adult life. (Amended to add: If I see this book somewhere, gonna pick it up!)

Because I had already done some work, Capacchione’s really was a workbook, as I mentioned, and I could pick and choose what to take from it.

There is also a deeply spiritual component to this book. I appreciated that.

Originally written and shared on this blog by me on December 10, 2017