Can you play?

Much stress and anxiety derives from a conflict between your inner child and your inner parent. The child wants to have fun, the adult wants the jobs done, the child wants to be indulged, the adult wants to restrain, child wants to be silly and the adult wants to judge. Learning to be aware of your inner child and indulging it will help to lift your mood. This could require a relaxing of guidelines that you’ve been following since your parents laid down ‘the rules’ for you. Your inner child learned the rules through a process of trying to gain love and discovering how to be ‘good’. This meant learning to repress the unwanted parts. Therapy can help you to uncover the experiences of your inner child but there is a lot you can do yourself to improve your capacity for play. Sing, skip and dance like no-one is watching, schedule time for play, hangout with children or animals, daydream or try something new. Be great to hear any more suggestions that you have! A final point, make no apologies!

~ Jumbled Bean