Introspection (Third in an occasional series)

I find as a read and I hear things, certain words and phrases seem to pop up and catch my attention. This week the phrase was Inner Child.

Apparently Jung quantified the concept of the Divine Child as an archetype. Depend on who you read, this is a bad thing to have or a good thing to have and we all have it.

“Let your inner child out and play” was the theme to an art book I was reading. I can’t remember the title but it written for those who felt blocked or uncreative. The gist of the work was that everyone was creative, you just had to figure out how to get or recognize your creative force. It also suggested that you go on play dates with your inner child. I have to say that the image I got in my head from that one gave me a really good giggle.

My inner child is health and pretty happy. And it doesn’t stay inner that much to me. I have found that I still feel like I did as a kid in certain situations, I just learned how to deal with my feelings and the situations over time. I guess that is called growing up.

I still play with toys but now I create the toys I play with. I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I do something that I think is pretty incredible and then some one else affirms what I did was pretty incredible. I get angry and sad but most of the temper tantrum is within rather than without.

I do wonder how much Caroline has helped my inner child to stick around. Having a kid makes one both remember things when one was a kid and get to try new things because you have a kid.

But honestly, I think Peter and I would be going to toy stores and kids movies on our own. Just the way we are wired. I have been going to toy stores with friends for years. We mostly browsed but there were times we were looking for toys for us (which is what Caroline called Toys R Us for years). I remember almost getting kicked out of a toy store when a friend and I came across Magic Earring Ken and couldn’t stop laughing. About a month later Magic Earring Kens became hard to find as they had become a gay icon for the reasons that had us almost on the floor in hysterics.

Society has changed to where an adult buying toys for themselves isn’t as strange as it was many years ago. Now they can buy limited edition exclusives of toys they had as kids. Look at San Diego Comic Con and the speculators market for examples of this. Personally here in this household, if it is a toy then it comes out of the packaging and is play with.

I think that society has changed allowing adults to act more like children. I prefer to think of it as society allowing us to be more like us rather than the social ideal whatever that is at the time. We don’t have to hide behind doors of a club or social club to play. We do it out in the open and freely. Which I think is a good thing for us as human beings.

My inner child is healthy and happy and has plenty of other inner children to play with. I married someone else who believe that it is healthy to let one’s imagination roams and play with the possibilities. We have a child who is encouraged to think what if. Our friends have healthy inner children as well that they express in so many different ways.

I am grateful for my inner child’s health.