MEET YOUR LOVING PARENT

Here’s one way to reconnect with your loving parent

Left hand/right hand

Take a journal and open it so you have two blank pages. On the right-hand page (if you are right-handed, but the left-hand page if you are left-handed) write something to your inner self; the part of you that’s struggling.

For example, introduce your loving parent: ‘Hello Alex, I’d like to introduce myself. How are you feeling?’ or ‘How have you been? I’m here to listen to you if you’d like to talk.’

Then place the pen in your other hand and write the thoughts that come up on the opposite page. These thoughts might be random or make no sense, but don’t judge them. Allow the thoughts to flow. The writing will be scratchy and childlike; these thoughts are coming from your younger, more fragile self.

Respond to what you wrote back on the other side of the page. Imagine what a loving parent would say. This is a private exercise and you can afford to be free thinking. Let the words drop onto the paper, and continue the written dialogue from the right page and back to the left until you feel the shift inside you.

Practise a little every day, and don’t try to force results. In time, you will reconnect to the part of you that has been lost, and you will feel reassured that you have the authoritative voice you’ve been searching for. By turning to this loving parent, you will have some amazing benefits, including:

● You stop assuming you’ve done something wrong.

● You challenge your Jiminy Cricket.

● You see mistakes as challenges to grow.

● Your focus narrows down to the present moment.

● You recognise you have choices.

● You stand up for yourself without feeling guilty.

● You dissolve chronic anxiety and depression.

● You feel a sense of freedom you never thought was possible.

In time, you will come to see that your parents gave you a life – but it’s through your own loving parent that you can create the life you want.