A Little Alignment

Reclaiming Your Inner Child

A Little Alignment Season 1 Episode 34

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0:00 | 31:21

Picture the boundless curiosity and fearless imagination you held as a child—what if I told you that reclaiming that very spirit could be the secret to revitalizing your adult life? Join us as we discuss the all-too-common drift away from our innate selves, often nudged by societal expectations. This episode is a celebration of the unique individuals we have always been and continue to become.

Reclaiming the Inner Child

Speaker 1

I think that we come into this world very unique and that's important . We're here to embody specific qualities and if we do , man , how beautiful , how beautiful is the world when people learn to embody their individuality and really step into that . How much better do you perform the things that you're doing If it's something that you love ? How much better do you perform in life in general If you just allow , if you allow yourself to engage in the things that you love , you have more energy and more passion for living . Welcome to a little alignment . If you enjoy what you hear today , if you gain some value from our episode , please leave us a good rating and review at the end . Every single review counts . It really does make a difference . We would appreciate it with all our hearts . We're so glad you all are here with us , helping us create a little more alignment in the world . Hello everybody . Okay , lauren and I are fired up already about this topic , so fired up we were literally just we couldn't hit the record button fast enough .

Speaker 1

We were just kind of talking about what we're going to talk about , and I was like let's just start recording it .

Speaker 2

She's like , okay , let's go , and we just yeah could not . Couldn't even .

Speaker 1

Quickly enough . So what we want to talk about today is reclaiming the inner child , which is , very , like you know , conscious awareness language around , just becoming our kid like selves again . Yeah .

Speaker 2

Right .

Speaker 1

I found a really empowering question to ask . Well , a really insightful question to ask let's put it that way is when I was a kid , I was blank , or when I was a kid I did blank or I liked blank .

Speaker 2

Right .

Speaker 1

And it's interesting as you start to compile a little list for yourself , which , if you want to go ahead and pause this and start compiling a little bit of list , unfortunately might take a moment . It took me a moment to like remember her . Yeah , I can't at first .

Speaker 2

Yeah , which is really heartbreaking , but that's what today is for , oh , but yeah , but it's also okay .

Speaker 1

There's heartbreaking , and part of that was like there was something in me that felt the disconnect and I was like yeah .

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

And anyway , something that came back really clearly for me was a visual , a moment of me walking into kindergarten . It's my first day of school , oh , and I remember walking in just totally at home , like I saw all the kids and was just like they're my friends and this is so cool . And look at this , and where's my teacher ? I love her . I don't even know her . I love her . Mom . Why are you still here ? I'm good , leave me alone . You know , and I was very much that way in school , like I got in trouble for being too social . Lauren and I were just talking about how our report cards were very similar .

Speaker 1

They would reflect how we were great students and we were doing a great job . But also she's a little bit of a social butterfly .

Speaker 2

Always . And I like I did not know what that meant and we're laughing about how we didn't know what that meant , but I remember . So I mean it was a legitimate pattern on all of my report cards . Yeah , Lauren's a little bit of a social butterfly . The same exact way we must have had , like the same teachers . But we totally didn't . But I didn't know and I was like , well , I like butterflies , Maybe that's cool but cute .

Speaker 1

Yeah , I also I remember being like , oh sorry , like immediately started to see , you know , wanting to be with other people as a bad thing , or , you know , maybe I did like tone it down a bit .

Speaker 2

There was something . I needed to shift . I did know that , yeah .

Speaker 1

Like I needed to be a little less myself , like a little quieter . Yeah , exactly that was a hard part , though .

Speaker 2

Actually , I think when I first started trying to understand it , it was like well , do I like not talk to people ? Like I didn't realize I was doing it too much , right Enough for it to be . You know , something that's highlighted on my report card ?

Speaker 1

I mean geez , but that's the that's the gift of childhood is there we see things as they really are , right , because there's absolutely nothing wrong with that . But no , there was constructs in place in our you know , standard education situation . Yeah , this is how you're supposed to learn and this is how the learning environment works best for everyone and how it works , how it's going to work for you . And it was probably not the best for us , I mean , no , it wasn't the best for me , because I did not have a great experience with my primary education . Yeah , I hated it a little bit later in life , but anyway , probably because this .

Speaker 1

But here's what's interesting is that thinking about that now , something that's really , something that's just really true for me is that I have , since then , experienced somewhat of I'm going to call it social anxiety yeah , I have to but a bit of a disconnect from other people . Like I start to see myself as separate and see potentially people who are like I have something to prove to , or that are maybe better than me or know things that I don't know , like some form of on the outside looking in , instead of like that little girl walked in , like this is home , just like my home is home , like you're all my friends and there's nothing to prove , there's nothing to learn and there is no separation right . But I learned to separate myself and that took me to a different memory of when I was in middle school and I was a late bloomer big time .

Speaker 2

I think we've talked about this before and I think you were also a late bloomer . Yeah , we were both late bloomers .

Speaker 1

I don't know how we've had such a similar experience .

Speaker 2

Isn't that so funny ?

Speaker 1

It's pretty cool actually , but I was very much a late bloomer and all of my friends were not , so they were very beautiful . I mean , I was beautiful too , but they had the curves that I didn't develop till later .

Speaker 2

Yeah , I was so mad that all the other girls could like fill out these cute little Capri pants that I could not . I was like why does everything look like a bag on me ? Meanwhile she's looking . I was not into curves or really even knew what those were , I just knew that like why does everything have to look like a bag on me and it doesn't on other people ?

Speaker 1

Yeah , and at that time , like that period of development psychologically , we're really trying to figure out who our people are right , like where we belong outside of the home . And I had some experiences that really were . I mean , I was different physically than my friends and there were a couple of . I was kind of that girl that the boys would come to to ask me if my friends liked them , like do you think that your friend would ever go for ?

Speaker 2

me .

Speaker 1

And sometimes it was guys that I had a huge crush on , you know , and I was just . I always just felt like cute little Kendra that was invisible . So it's interesting that in my purest state I was like we're all here together and this is we're all . This is so fun and I can't wait to talk to everybody and some experiences that I had and I don't necessarily have access to all of them and I don't need to , and neither does anyone but something developed a separation from other people , as I had a separation of from myself .

Speaker 2

Yeah . So I think this is actually a really good moment to like take a pause and sort of recognize what happened , because I like to go back with people when we review , like , well , where did this thought come from or where did this behavior come from ? And so when we think about little Kendra and separating from her true self little by little , it's important to see where it was . Outside ideas , it was like constructs , and it was also the perception of a seven-year-old , 10-year-old or 12-year-old that developed these ideas and these thoughts . So , like , what do we know about seven-year-olds ?

Speaker 1

Well for sure we know that the brain is still absolutely in development , and especially the younger we are , the more things feel threatening to our safety and security Right . Even things like not getting attention from our parents to us is like a matter of life and death right . Like if my parents don't love me , will they still take care of me ?

Speaker 2

Yeah .

Speaker 1

Right , because we're so young , our minds , our brains aren't formed enough to be able to understand , and there's also very specific things that we're learning . Like I said , when you're in that adolescence that , like I don't know , it's somewhere like 11 to 15 or 16 , maybe even all the way 18 . I can't remember clearly in this moment , but your brain development , your psychological development , is the point where you're trying to find where you belong in the world , right ? So it's picking up on all these things , trying to answer the question right , looking for the answer to the question that the mind is asking for development .

Speaker 2

And we just don't have all of the answers , we just don't have all the information . We're just like a little kid , and so it's like these beliefs are built by a seven year old and the wild thing is that we hold onto them , sometimes for the better portion of our lives . So there's like I think that I've been really fortunate to bring an awareness around certain beliefs or limiting beliefs of mine . But I mean I could trace some of them back to pre-K and I didn't release them until , like I don't know , mid to late 20s , right . So like I was holding onto something for 20 years , you know , and then I talked to people who maybe didn't have awareness around certain things for even longer . So it's wild how long we'll hold onto these things . It's that I just love to highlight that , because I think it's so important to know it's a whole part of the whole childhood process that we we lose that connection with our true selves , but for good reason , but also for no reason .

Speaker 1

Right , and you know the the only reason that it sticks with us is because we don't wake up to it , right , we don't make it conscious that , oh , this was a belief that I developed before I had the full ability to have a deeper awareness and understanding what was going on yeah , and you have to be open to that .

Speaker 2

Yes and also .

Speaker 1

Correct , totally , and also it's one of those things I mean as a parent you want to be like oh , how can I protect my child from this ? But it's actually really Natural and important and you can't protect someone from it because you protect them again from learning .

Speaker 2

Yeah what ?

Speaker 1

what I've heard said before is we get it wrong to get it right .

Speaker 1

Yeah and when it comes to yourself and being yourself , these moments of separation , these little things that happen , that we start to believe there's something that is wrong with us or we need to be different in order to be safe , in order to fit in , in order to Find our people , we need to change , we need to be different . That's us getting it wrong . But when we come to this point of okay , I'm ready to reclaim that inner child , the true essence of myself , that's when we get to get it right . So we get it wrong to understand more clearly and more puttantly who we are .

Speaker 1

I love that so much right and get to choose into it , actively , right and with heart , not just oh . This is just how I've always been . Yeah , you get to say this , how , who I really am and it's who I want to be right right ?

Speaker 2

Yeah , because I think whenever I've thought about you know breaking off from your true self or you know losing your inner child , it's always been such a sad thing , yeah you know , it just feels Sad and I'm like kind of like ashamed , like well , why did I do that to myself ?

Speaker 2

um , but as we're talking through this just a second ago which is why we got so freaking pumped to just start it's like I really love that switch of that disconnection had to happen , or it . It's also like a good thing . It's not a bad thing because it gives you the opportunity to actively choose into it . But so I really like that because I I don't know , I think I'm like one of those like Perpetual , like positive people , like I just always want to look at the silver lining and things .

Speaker 2

And I feel like that's a huge one within the situation of losing , you know , your little inner child . Yeah , I was in touch with them .

Speaker 1

Yeah , you and I , both being in in the , the healing world , the world of healing and and personal development , sometimes we are able to uncover these wounds and understand oh , this is something that's perpetuating cycles in my life and what I've noticed is that it's easy for people to identify with their wounds . I'd be like , oh , because I now have this like insecurity around people and the separateness now I need to make sure that I accommodate that and just know that that's something about myself that's there right . And I see it a lot in relationships like , oh , I have trust issues , for example , because I was hurt and now I see why I have these trust issues .

Speaker 1

and so now my partner needs to accommodate that , instead of saying like that's just , that's just keeping you stuck , it's not it's not reclaiming at , it's not reclamation at all , right , and instead it's saying okay , now that I know that this is not real , leave me . Not real , not really me .

Speaker 1

Yeah these are thoughts that I developed , that I needed to develop , to develop , that helped me develop as a person . Now I get to go through the process of remembering who I really am and remembering and reminding myself oh , that's just a lie that I learned Right and releasing those not letting you on the show anymore , mm-hmm .

Rediscovering Childhood Joy and Self-Acceptance

Speaker 2

I think that's such an important distinction , because people really hold on to some of those . What would be like the good word for , like , a good word for um , like you're saying , maybe like somebody doesn't trust in a relationship , so now my partner needs to accommodate for that . No , no , no , no . Your partner doesn't need to do anything . Yeah , they need to honor you in respect to you and obviously , understand to trust and understand .

Speaker 2

Yeah , yeah but that's not their job to fix , that's not their job to heal or dig into . That's yours right ? And I think that's also where I get like okay , the only person who can actually change this is you , and so you've got to take your power back rather than wishing everything around you would change .

Speaker 1

Yeah , yeah , right , it's not being victim to what happens , because that's still being victim to what happened to you think . All right , I've learned myself , I've developed and I understand my wounds now , so I understand myself and I've done the work . But that's just the beginning . The real work comes into play when you have to come face to face with the lies that you've been telling yourself for so long and remember that their lies , remember that they're not real . Yep , people , kendra , people aren't looking at you and deciding how you're different . You don't have anything to prove to people . This is just something that you learned to think , because that was what life was there to teach you , for whatever reason . That's what you learned . Yeah , and you know what I mean . So then I'm like man . What I did actually is I .

Speaker 1

I got a picture of myself from the first grade because she just came so potently back into my , into my awareness , and I put it on my phone to just remember Her . Right , she's in there still . And she , yes , like , yeah , these moments when I catch myself being small or not , feeling like I don't belong in a social situation , or feeling like I can't talk to people because I don't know them , or feeling you know what I mean , like getting that anxiety . Then I can Honestly just embody her , like remember how she felt walking into that classroom like this is great , I'm so excited to meet all these people . But also just as a reminder that all of that's not true . No one is actually looking at you the way you think they are . No one is actually gonna judge you .

Speaker 2

I mean .

Speaker 1

That's not true .

Speaker 2

People will judge you , but it's but it's also just a reflection of them and their own self-judgment . So , right , yeah , I don't worry about that one .

Speaker 1

But just getting out of your head , I mean , that's essentially . It Like getting out of those thoughts and not letting them drive anymore , and it always takes practice . But there are things too , not just the way that you think , but the things that you used to do . Right , like , what are some things that you used to do when you were a kid that you maybe don't do anymore ?

Speaker 2

Well , I think that , like one of the biggest ones for me that I became really conscious of is I used to just love spending time doing art of any sort , whether that was like chalk on the sidewalk or painting or coloring .

Speaker 2

That's what I spent so much of my time doing when I was little , and my mom also did like a lot of arts and crafts when I was growing up too . She's like really good at making things and she's really artistic , and so there was a good portion of my life I mean like my childhood was a lot of creativity and like using our hands and making things and fast forward . You know , once I'm in college , I did take an art class and I loved it . But I took one art class , you know . And then , after college , you know it was all about getting the right job and getting my career going . And , of course , if I were to stop and think , okay , what do I really want to do , like what would make me really happy , I'd totally dismissed any of the stuff that made me happy when I was little . Would I have loved to do it ?

Speaker 2

Hell yeah , I would have loved to have spent more time painting , and so then , once I did become more conscious of like , hey , how can I bring back more of the elements of that child like version of myself ? I did choose to get back into painting , into creating and coloring , like Rob's bought me so many of those like adult coloring books and like all those little things and I just I have so much fun when I do them .

Speaker 2

But that was part of what kind of broke off was like oh , but this is just for fun , it's not serving a purpose , so I shouldn't do it . So is that why you ?

Speaker 1

stopped Is because you felt like you could only spend time and energy doing things that quote unquote served a purpose . You lost the purpose in the play .

Speaker 2

Yes .

Speaker 1

Mm-hmm . Yep , I think that happens with a lot of us . It's like oh , this , we're told , this is what makes you successful , this is what you're supposed to do , this is what everyone else is doing and this is you know , and we think that's what will lead us to happiness .

Speaker 2

Yeah , but how ?

Speaker 1

many of us are walking around . I mean , the reason we're having this conversation is because we've both individually experienced moments of like wait , I'm not happy , right , right , what am I missing ? And I feel like this question that we asked at the beginning of this is such a powerful , like a balm to that lack of joy in our lives . Yeah , what were you like as a kid ? How did you show up ? How did you move through the world ? What were some things that excited you and how can you reintroduce yourself to yourself ? You know , like let that young , youthful play wonder in the eyes version of yourself back in you know , bring them back into the conversation , into the equation .

Reconnecting With Our Inner Child

Speaker 2

Cause that stuff matters . It does matter , it is important , and I think that that's the most interesting part of this Like for me anyway , it's like I didn't spend time doing those things cause I thought it wasn't important and it didn't matter . But if we're here to experience like a life that's fulfilled and full of joy , isn't it important to do the things that bring those particular things in , like painting and doing art does bring me joy , but I was categorizing it as not important or a waste of time .

Speaker 1

I know it's weird and you know what ? I think the school does this a lot to us . We're kind of taught all to be a lot like the same , like this is the path to success , this is the path Very standardized , instead of celebrating our differences and the things that work and didn't work for us when we were learning , and so we end up kind of cookie cutter versions of each other and trying to be like everybody else instead of Like one thing that I remember feeling like I was too much , I was too loud , I was too big , I was too , I laughed too much , I was obnoxious Like that's how I started to feel about myself , yeah , which maybe some people thought I was , but they're just not my people , right yeah .

Speaker 1

And you know I sent you a video the other day that I loved . It said you know you have a true friendship . What was it it was like ? Or surround yourself with the people who make you feel like a kid again .

Speaker 2

Like a kid again .

Speaker 1

Yeah , like you feel like a kid again with them and I think that that's that's a really powerful way to reconnect and also like that's how you know you have like a good friend right when they bring out , like when they bring out the inner child in you and help you to live that way again , to wake that part of you back up again , to reclaim yourself in that way . But , yeah , I just , I think that we come into this world very unique and that's important . We're here for a specific , to embody specific qualities and if we do , man , how beautiful , how beautiful is the world when people learn to embody their individuality and really step into that , the things that they love . How much better do you perform the things that you're doing if it's something that you love ? How much better do you perform in life in general ? If you just allow , if you allow yourself to engage in the things that you love , you have more energy and more passion for living right .

Speaker 2

Yeah , I think the other interesting part of this too , because , like for you and I , we both come from the perspective where , like we really I mean , at least for me I really loved my childhood , like it was happy , full of love . I'm really really blessed to have had such a good childhood , and I know that , like even with some of my clients like that might not have had the best childhood , it can be a little bit more painful to think back to . Okay , well , who was that version of me ? Because there were some things that that little , unfortunately , that poor little kid was going through , and so my heart goes out to those people because we can speak really fondly of those memories and like really wanna get back to them . There's people who can't as much .

Speaker 2

The other thing , though , too , that I will say is that there was still a point in time that that true version of you existed , and it might have been for a shorter amount of time .

Speaker 2

You might not have been , as a you know , well-acquaintant with the things that you love , because you didn't get to do them for as long for whatever reason .

Speaker 2

But there's one particular client of mine that I'm thinking about who did experience a lot of really hard things from a really young age . But for her she still very vividly remembers who the true version of herself was , and it's been a beautiful process helping her get back in touch with that version of herself , because she's still alive in the exact same way she was before , before all the things that you know broke her down or hardened her or made her feel that she wasn't enough or whatever right . But it's so beautiful because those things are still there . Everybody still has those things . Even if it was hard , you were still beautiful through it , and so it might be a little bit harder to want to go back and recall like what were the things you loved or liked . But that doesn't mean that those beautiful , sweet , innocent , childlike things who make that are all parts of what make you who you are didn't exist . You're still there .

Speaker 1

Yeah , do it for her or him or him . Yeah , if you look back at your younger self and you see somebody who didn't get the opportunity to be a kid , who didn't get the opportunity to be big , to be thoughtful , to be creative , to be expressive anything , but there's a party that wants to give that to them .

Speaker 1

I mean , that is I feel like that's a signal of something that you know when you're connected with your inner child , the things you want for them , or even , if you're a parent , the things you want for your kids , are likely a reflection of the things that you wanted as a kid for yourself so do it for them , do it for your younger self , you know , that can be really empowering as well .

Speaker 2

Yeah , yeah , and I think something too , another , yet another perspective on this is like , even like , for me , through my self-love journey , a big part of what helped me was imagining myself as the little girl version of myself . And would I say the things that I was saying to myself ? You know , at that point in time , to the little girl version of Lauren ? There was so much of it that I was like hell , no , I wouldn't say that to her . That's just mean , why would I ? She's , you know this , that the other like amazing , like good , sweet stuff , but for whatever reason , I started saying a completely different story to the adult version of myself . But the thing to remember is that that little girl or little boy is still alive within you and they're always gonna be there . We have the option to honor them , to treat them however we want .

Speaker 1

How they wanted to be treated really . Give them what they didn't get .

Speaker 2

Yeah , if there was , you know the pain in the past . You can still honor them now and I like to add in the layer of just speaking to them as that sweet version yeah , that , because it's like I said , they're still there .

Speaker 1

I know literally this picture that I found on myself . I mean , you just saw me do it . I literally get emotional looking at it , Like she's so cute . I have this cute little like matching my bow , matched my outfit , and I have this little face on and curls . I just like , I literally love her , Like , look at her and I'm like like almost the way I feel about like a child .

Speaker 1

Like she's mine , you know Because she is a child , she is yours yeah , my child Like this . It's this very similar , unconditional love , which isn't always easy to access . When you're looking at yourself in the mirror today .

Speaker 2

Yeah , so I love that practice though , right Isn't that ?

Speaker 1

interesting ? Yes , it is , and I think that this helps with that . Learning to love one version of yourself helps you love yourself period a little bit more .

Speaker 1

Right , you know , but yeah , just reconnecting with the energy of your younger self and realizing that that is something that you've lost , but only so that you could reclaim it again with choice , right , like really choosing into it , right , it like lights , it on fire , so very empowering , yes , exactly . Suddenly it stops becoming oh , this is just how I've always been and it becomes . This is how I truly am and it's also how I choose to be . I want to be this way . I want this version of myself to come through , like I thinking about myself and just how freely I , like I , moved through the world .

Speaker 1

I was just giggly and goofy and I had lots of ideas and I wasn't afraid to talk to people and but I also like watched myself , looking at people , just really watching , you know , not trying to make sure I was safe and not trying to make sure , like that you know they weren't looking at me in a way where maybe they don't like me . I was purely just curious about other people , right , and I'm like , oh , I love her for that . And now I know that when I get stuck in my head asking myself the wrong questions , like what are they thinking of me , for example , I can for a moment , just remember her and claim her energy or claim that part of myself and say that's not how I am , that's not how I am for real , that's not the essence of me .

Speaker 2

The different question , the condition of self .

Speaker 1

Exactly Not the real self Exactly . And I don't know what the other question would be , but more like how can I have fun right now and who wants to play with me ? You know , yep . Anyway , mm , that was fun .

Speaker 2

Yeah , it's good to reflect on these things for yourself , because you know what's more fun than just like a carefree kid and the fact that we all have that ability . You know , I don't , if you would have asked me about this like 10 years ago or maybe even less , I would have been like what , what do you mean ? Like , how do I , what do I do with that ? But digging into it more and becoming more familiar with that version of you that existed and still exists can be just such a cool way of amplifying your life and because , like we always talk about , like we don't always have to take life so seriously , Mm-hmm it's also meant to be enjoyed . I don't know how many times I've pulled that card . When I like pull like a tarot card or something Like a tarot card or just like a like an Oracle , yeah , Like an Oracle card .

Speaker 1

Sorry , not a tarot .

Speaker 2

I've pulled the joy card multiple times because I do have a tendency to try to take things too seriously , which is wild , because I'm such a not serious person Like I'm a very like you like . Take yourself too seriously . Yeah , or I just think , like I just will overthink things or something like that , to where I'm taking the joy out of it .

Speaker 1

So yeah , that's so true . I love Deborah Silverman . She's an astrology , she's the astrology queen , and she talks about how people come to her all the time wanting their charts read , saying you know what's my purpose ? What am I here to do ? What am I here to accomplish ? What am I here to be ? And she's like first of all , you're breathing , so you're doing it , and I love that . Like we take our purpose even too seriously sometimes , when one probably the most important purpose is that we are here . We wanted to be here and experience what it was to be a human being and that's enough . Sometimes it brings joy . It brings me joy to have a purpose outside of that . You know , to like build something and create , Cause we're all just and we are all creative . Human beings are so incredibly creative . It manifests differently based on our skills and the things that we enjoy and whatnot , but that creativity brings me more joy too , and that's something that I put a purpose into . But at the end of the day , you're here and that's enough , Yep .

Speaker 2

That took a lot for you to get here .

Speaker 1

So that was not an accident .

Speaker 2

No .

Speaker 1

Okay , cool .

Speaker 2

Yay , well , thank you for bringing that in today . I love it .

Speaker 1

Yeah , go reclaim that inner child . I'm working on it . Thank you , little picture here , she's so cute .

Speaker 2

All right , I'll go pull one up with myself and do it . Have a beautiful day , everybody Bye . If you found any of what we shared today helpful , please share this with a friend , and we would so appreciate a rating and review to help us grow and reach more people . Also , please feel free to send us any feedback and questions . You can find us on Instagram . Kendra can be found at KendraDyerCrabb K-E-N-D-R-A-D-Y-E-R-C-R-A-B-B , and you can find myself at Lauren Penyadial , and it's L-A-U-R-E-N-P-E-N-A-D-I-A-L . Thanks so much for listening and I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day . Did you guys enjoy theün easy , spicy shхn asshole meme ?