Inner Child Work as an act of faith, that dovetails into an Update.
You carry within you all the different versions of yourself you've ever been.
It’s interesting, to me, to be talking about inner child work, and the idea that you never leave your old self behind - they simply integrate into your present moment self - as I reflect on the journey of The Practice Co over the last ten years.
What started off, more than a decade ago, as a Daily Bible Devotional App, has turned into a beautiful community of people who want more out of their spirituality than a litmus test and prescription for the human condition. I went back and read some of the early pieces I wrote so earnestly, and sometimes it feels like someone else wrote them. And really, someone else did. But she’s still with me… I am all the Me’s I’ve ever been… they all come together to create who I am today. The Practice Co hasn’t changed so much as it’s evolved, like we all do, and it carries with it all the versions of itself it’s ever been… they all culminate into what it is today.
What is it today? A spiritually minded community for recovery, connection, and wellness. I continue to believe wholeheartedly in our inherent goodness, and that it’s only be tapping into our true nature, that we can heal, and bring that healing to our world. I continue to believe with my whole body that spirituality isn’t about services and doctrines, but connection with yourself, others, the earth, and The Divine (whatever and whoever the Divine is - if we can’t admit that it’s a mystery, than we are not being honest).
Your physical body follows a linear path of time and growth and maturing, but inside you? In your soul? At the core of your being? Time isn't so linear, and everything you've experienced, at all the ages you experienced them, live within you. That's why when you remember something specific, you can feel as if you are still right there in the moment - smells, sights, sounds, sensations of all kinds can take you back in an instant. There's you at three years old falling over and being held by a parent. There's you at five years old starting school and trying to make friends. There's you at twelve having a fight with your sibling and feeling left out. There's you at fifteen discovering that the world is much more complicated than you thought when you were five and trying to make friends at school.
We like to think that time always marches forward and what is in the past is no longer part of us. But our experience tells us that that’s not true.
Pema Chodron said:
"Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know."
Inner child work is equally about learning to be more open and receptive to the joys, nourishment, and delight of just being; of cultivating that child-like wonder and awe, faith and love, as it is about healing child wounds, trauma and damaging narratives, fixed mindsets and nurtured biases.
We talk about all that and more this week at The Practice Co App in a series called: To My Younger Self.
What would you tell your younger self if you could?
I’m about to open my coaching books for one on one sessions for those of you who need an objective witness, a conversation partner, someone to help you chart your own course, to give you permission to know what you know (and to discover what you know), and to be a guide (or friend) as you rebuild your spirituality the way that it works for you. If you’re interested, email me at liz@thepracticeco.com and we can chat. Sessions will be heavily discounted for the next few months.
I know what it is to evolve, and to keep on evolving: I’d love to assist you to do the same.
CONSIDER THIS: “Nothing ever goes away until it has taught us what we need to know… until we learn how we are pulling back instead of opening up, closing down instead of allowing ourselves to experience fully whatever we encounter." Pema Chodron.
L xo
PS: Listen to more of my story on the Beyond The Surface podcast hosted by Sam of Anchored Counselling. I talk about how my deconstruction began, and the entanglement I felt within institutionalised religion.
Liz Milani xo
Instagram: @thepracticeco
From this week’s series titled "To My Younger Self" with a subscription in the App. Hope to see you there.
