Try this.
Picture yourself as happy, carefree child – maybe 6 or 7 years of age.
Where are you? What are you doing? Try to identify what you might be thinking and feeling.
What makes this child so adorable? What makes your heart fill with love for her?
This is the real you.
The you you used to be. Before all those painful, damaging experiences. Before you stopped liking and loving yourself.
This is the you who got lost along the way.
But that you still exists – beneath the layers of the years.
That you is still there – maybe buried, but still there.
Oh, wouldn’t it be wonderful to reconnect with her!
If only you could access that child once again.
“This is the beginning of loving yourself. Welcome home.”
Don't Lose Hope 
Beautiful, bringing out our inner child and sweeping the cob webs of the debris of trauma and pain away..
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Reblogged this on Disablities & Mental Health Issues.
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Thanks Kenneth. Blessings on your day!
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I stumbled upon this reality while working with Pre-schoolers for two years. I noticed, for the vast majority of them, whatever they felt was right on the surface. They had’nt yet learned to hide. In other words, four and five year olds are genuine; what you see is what you get. I came up with a name for this: “Thrive Like You’re Five.”
One piece of advice I received is to surround yourself with people who allow you to bring your inner pre-schooler back out—minus the temper tantrums, of course. To get (and stay) emotionally healthy, you must find the people who love the REAL you. Of course, it’s equally important to love and accept yourself.
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Thanks David. “Thrive like you’re five”. What a great phrase! Yes, it can help us nurture that “essential me” in to life again, and – as you say – allow it to thrive, if we spend time with people who can see that part of us. A very helpful point!
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I love the idea you shared here. I feel it’s so important to get back in touch with our child selves. It does seem connected to self-love. I enjoyed the exercise at the start. It was a bit of a struggle for me to do, which gets me thinking. Thank you for sharing this.
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Thanks for trying the exercise. I think it’s really important to find that beautiful, hopeful child at the centre of our being … and to fall in love with that beautiful hold again. I really appreciate you participating and sharing your feedback. Have a wonderful day 🙂
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Just beautiful! 😃♥️
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Thanks 🙏
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One of my most vivid memories is of finding a nest of abandoned bird eggs when I was 7 or 8 and thinking I could gently sit over the nest, give them a little of my body heat and poof…they would hatch and fly away. Pretty sure I didn’t follow this through to the end but that hope I had as a child stayed with me. I think about it often. Not sure why it crosses my mind but it always seems to pop up when I need a little chuckle…or a little hope. Bless our inner child!
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Is that beautiful ❤️ Thanks for sharing this experience. Yes, bless our inner child!
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Reblogged this on Survivors Blog Here Mental Health Collaborative .
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[…] Paradise Lost — Don’t Lose Hope […]
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This post is filled with hope. I think of our adopted granddaughter who has rediscovered what life truly can be in a home filled with the love which has been missing.
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That is so beautiful ❤️ Your little granddaughter is so blessed to be welcomed in to such a loving family,.
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Yes!!! That child is your true self and heart. Only we can do the work to reveal our tender self. For me that work has not always guaranteed happiness but it has guaranteed authenticity. That authenticity is now facilitating happiness ❤️
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Very well put. Getting in touch with our authentic self is so important … and, really, that is the only way to experiencing genuine happiness.
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