posted May 09, 2008 11:38 AM           

mine is almost always sporting a paper "pilgrim hat".

and busy making things out of paper and cardboard.

posted May 09, 2008 11:42 AM           

Who is the "Inner Child"?
How did the "Inner Child" get there?
What is the unfinished business of the "Inner Child"?
How does the "Inner Child" come into being?
What are the signs of activity of the "Inner Child"?
What messages did the "Inner Child" need to hear, but which went unsaid?
What are the negative consequences of suppressing the "Inner Child"?
What nurturing messages can you give your "Inner Child"?
What are some steps by which you can help heal your "Inner Child"?
_____________________________________________

Who is the "Inner Child"?
The "Inner Child" is the:

Little child you were who desired to be nurtured, cared for, and loved. This child still resides within you as an adult.

Free spirit, pixie, and elf you have tamed and controlled, yet who resides within you.

Emotional and sensitive you whom you have channeled, controlled, and silenced and who is still living within you.

Creative, imaginative, and artistic you who has been molded, structured, and organized; who still resides in you and is needing to be set free.

Hurt, pained, neglected, frustrated, abused, and ignored you whom you have masked, hidden from view, and denied the existence of. This child is always just below the surface, causing you to be anxious, worried, and fearful of mistreatment.

Fun loving, happy, frivolous, joyful, humorous you when you were young and unsophisticated; that person you have replaced with a sophisticated, mature, serious, task oriented demeanor.

Childhood you have lost or forgotten; yet it still resides in you, dwelling in your subconscious.

Person who knows how to have fun and play for play's sake; who can help you prevent burnout and manage the stress in your life.

Person you could be as an adult if you lightened up, let go of your seriousness, overcame your fears, and accepted flexibility and change in your life.

Person within you who needs healing, support, and reinforcement through a variety of Tools for Coping activities. Through this you can be given new life, health, and a chance for personal growth.

posted May 09, 2008 12:20 PM           

a lone traveller
in her travellin' shoes
muddy waters

posted May 09, 2008 01:47 PM         

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

posted May 09, 2008 09:36 PM           

Now that I've lost everything to you,
you say you want to start something new,
and it's breaking my heart you're leaving,
baby I'm grieving.

But if you wanna leave take good care,
hope you have a lot of nice things to wear,
but then a lot of nice things turn bad out there.

Oh baby baby it's a wild world,
it's hard to get by just upon a smile.
Oh baby baby it's a wild world.

I'll always remember you like a child, girl.
You know I've seen a lot of what the world can do,
and it's breaking my heart in two,
cause I never want to see you sad girl,
don't be a bad girl,
but if you want to leave take good care,
hope you make a lot of nice friends out there,
but just remember there's a lot of bad and beware,
beware,

Oh baby baby it's a wild world,
it's hard to get by just upon a smile
Oh baby baby it's a wild world,
and I'll always remember you like a child, girl.

Baby I love you, but if you wanna leave take good care,
hope you make a lot of nice friends out there,
but just remember there's a lot of bad,
and beware, beware,

posted May 10, 2008 11:03 PM         

Yes, Drew and I were total doppelgangers.. heard it all my life. I used to dress up a lot, and pretend things... that picture was taken at my cottage...
( I named my son Elliot, haha, and our last name is T.. E.T. it worked out that way, but I realized the significance. )

I loved the princess and the pea growing up... and the little mermaid. I'd regularly have soft focus dreams like those pictures.
I thought those were apt images.
I love this thread, it got me thinking a lot of my youth, and how I would talk with my inner child.
I've finally forgiven my inner teenager, my inner child has received understanding through my own girl-child too... we're always a work in progress.

Why the paper hats?

posted May 10, 2008 11:23 PM           

Anne was bringing the cows home from the back pasture by way of Lover's Lane. It was a September evening and all the gaps and clearings in the woods were brimmed up with ruby sunset light. Here and there the lane was splashed with it, but for the most part it was already quite shadowy beneath the maples, and the spaces under the firs were filled with a clear violet dusk like airy wine. The winds were out in their tops, and there is no sweeter music on earth than that which the wind makes in the fir trees at evening.

The cows swung placidly down the lane, and Anne followed them dreamily, repeating aloud the battle canto from MARMION--which had also been part of their English course the preceding winter and which Miss Stacy had made them learn off by heart--and exulting in its rushing lines and the clash of spears in its imagery. When she came to the lines

The stubborn spearsmen still made good
Their dark impenetrable wood,

she stopped in ecstasy to shut her eyes that she might the better fancy herself one of that heroic ring.

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The truth is ... everything counts. Everything. Everything we do and everything we say. Everything helps or hurts; everything adds to or takes away from someone else. ~ Countee Cullen

We are weaving character every day, and the way to weave the best character is to be kind and to be useful. Think right, act right; it is what we think and do that makes us who we are. ~ Elbert Hubbard