Your Inner Child Is Not the “Younger Version” of You

Today is Part 2 of the 3 part What In the Woo? Series—offering a fresh perspective on how to work with the term “Inner Child.” 

The Inner Child is not your younger self—it’s the wounded, emotional, shadowy part within, asking for healing.

Your Inner Child isn’t you when you were 8 years old. Inner Child is a really effectual term for the part of us that hasn’t healed yet—the wounded self, the fragmented self. Interchangeable with the ego or shadow self. 

The part of you that gets triggered, goes into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn? That’s your Inner Child asking for attention and love.

The gift of the Inner Child is that they’re always pointing to what’s unresolved within us.  Anxiety attacks before big events, losing your phone while hustling, getting sick when you’re pushing too hard? Those aren’t accidents—they’re calls for compassion, not "tough love."

True spiritual growth happens when we hold space for our Inner Child reactions—gently, lovingly, without judgment. Reparenting our unmet needs into creative power... and that’s Inner Child work.

In this episode:

• How the Inner Child represents your unconscious self
• Why Inner Child healing transforms emotional triggers
• How self-sabotage moments are really spiritual SOS signals
• The power of gentleness vs. tough love
• How to spiritually grow up through reparenting

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

• What in the Woo? 3-part podcast series → Subscribe to WITH LOVE, DANIELLE.
• What The Sphinx Told Me: LISTEN | READ
• The Archives: Read on Substack
• Join the Inner Child class inside the Heart Centered Collective
• Catch up on Part 1 of the What In The Woo? Series: Are you ego’ing? What IS the ego? Do you DO it, or does it do you?
• Next week: A look at “following the money” for Mother’s Day. Subscribe so you don’t miss it.
• Take the free Stressed to Blessed Quiz