Me age 5 & close to 55. I just calculated that to this day I have lived for 19783 days. WHAT a journey it's been so far! How precious THIS day is, knowing that there will be a number out there that one day WILL be final.
Whilst I have dramatically transformed over those years, I also haven't changed AT ALL since that photo was taken at age 5. There is always, day after day, THE SAME SELF that goes to bed & wakes up to a new morning.
We think that we leave the younger version of ourselves behind but the truth -MY truth & belief that I see confirmed every day in my work as a coach- is that this younger essence does stay unchanged *AND* that IT DOES GET COVERED IN LAYERS over time.
The 'thickness' of those layers/how far we manage to stay in touch with this core seems to determine how happy & fulfilled we feel & how much AGENCY we have today.
On an unconscious level, our whole lives revolve around these younger versions of ourselves - around how much WE HAD or had NOT been allowed to be exactly as we were as children:
how much we suffered & learned to hide, cope, shrink, comply, mask, fit in
and how much we learned to stay true to this essence: infinitely curious, thoughtlessly aware, playful, wild, creative, joyful, & OPEN TO LIFE, to the adventure & the freshness of it EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Painful experiences create layers on top of this core. Then, weirdly, later, painful experiences can help us to crack open the shell we've built around it.
Yet this essence CANNOT be changed, nothing can be added/taken away no matter what happens to us. It does NOT ever need fixing. YOU don't need fixing. But it/you might need 'REVEALING'.
We can remove those layers, update the outdated story your unconscious mind has created & update the self-beliefs of your younger self that are now hardwired into your nervous system.
This does NOT require digging into & analysing your past AT ALL.
We just reprocess the thoughts, beliefs & emotions as they are stored in your brain. This can happen FAST. Often just 1 session can update your most fundamental beliefs about yourself.
When the 5, 10 or whatever-year-old inside you makes this update, your life today changes in an instant. Parts that had been suppressed emerge.
Someone I coached a while back likened this experience to a nuclear explosion of an inner force -like the splitting of an atom- that is powerful beyond measure & that had been suppressed for so long.
Facilitating this is an incredible honour.
My logical mind cannot grasp this. But I do know with every fiber of my being that our/ YOUR true power lies in this unchanging essence within you and me.
The older I get, the more I marvel at the mystery of it all & the more I honour my younger/ timeless Self & the incredible journey she has been on so far.
If you have time, take a moment & look at some photos of yourself as a child and put them next to one of yourself today. Perhaps send your younger YOU some love & notice how this makes you feel today.
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