Daily Insight from the Story of the Little Prince Have you thought of yourself as having a "wounded inner child?" Imagining we have a wounded child, and trying to take care of this child, isn't at all the same as honoring our childlike essence, which is what the Little Priince is asking of us.
If, now that we are adult, we think of ourselves as a vulnerable, victimized little child, we'll baby ourselves-and expect others to baby us.
To believe in a wounded inner child is itself a way of babying yourself.
It's appropriate for a baby to be made safe and secure, since it can't do this for itself.
But to act like a baby when we aren't a baby any longer is counterproductive.
In contrast, to honor our essence is to discover how strong and capable we are.
Which indeed we are, given that our essence is an expression of infinite divine consciousness.
I've observed that people who see themselves as having within them a wounded child continue to deal with the same issues year after year.
They are always "recovering" or "healing," forever trying to undo damage from the past.
Many who see themselves as wounded believe they have nothing better to look forward to than a lifetime of recovering.
It never occurs to them that the fulfillment for which they yearn lies a long way beyond recovery.
Their belief that they'll always be recovering keeps them stuck far below their potential.
If you want to rehash all that went wrong in your childhood, you may well be in recovery your whole life.
But there's a much better way! Our present sense of ourselves was shaped by the way we interpret the circumstances in which we grew up.
However, those circumstances didn't obliterate who we are at our center.
They affected only how we see ourselves and feel about ourselves.
Our childlike essence, buried beneath our image of ourselves as "a wounded child," was untouched by the terrible things that may have happened to us along life's journey.
Our essential being has never been addicted to anything, never been wounded, isn't sick, and isn't in need of years of therapy.
It's the delightfully original person we once were before we lost touch with ourselves-before the boa constrictor of family and society expectations got hold of us and began squeezing the vitality out of us.
We can work a lifetime undoing damage from the past.
Or we can focus on our essential childlike self, acknowledging the ways we have denied this aspect of our being, and allow it to blossom here and now.
We do this by consciously taking responsibility for our actions in the present, instead of unconsciously acting out patterns of behavior learned in childhood.
Our essential self hasn't been wounded, it's just been dormant.
It longs to spring into action in every aspect of our daily life.
In this way we transcend the emotional reactivity and self-defeating behavior we have picked up.
We avoid years of pain as our real self flourishes and divine Presence is increasingly expressed in every area of our life.
Our essence is interested in much more than our recovery.
It seeks to draw us far beyond concerns for safety and security.
It longs to well up in us with a fullness of joy.
It will fire in us an intense passion for life that fulfills our deepest longings.