Much as its great to be connected to our inner child, having an ‘outer child’ control your life is problematic.. I am not sure if abandonment therapist Susan Anderson is the first person to coin the term but having a look at the Outer Child checklist is enlightening for many of us who are still in the process of emotional arrest and trying to ‘grow ourselves back up’ to use a term coined by therapist and recovering addict, John Lee.
I am still working on my abandonment wounds and fears in close personal relationships, my boundaries still need work and I its taking some time to find mature responses to global emotions that festered and remained unmirrored from childhood.. I found the following item 65 on her 200 point check list interesting. and it resonated for my last relationship :
Outer child has a favourite feeling : anger. In fact, all of the other feelings like sadness, hurt, loneliness, well they all make outer angry. Anger is the outer child’s excuse to act out.
I was thinking that disappointment must be added to that list as well, as when disappointments hit anger can be an avoidance reaction to having to take said disappointment square on the chin and work through associated feelings with out rolling over, collapsing, criticising, shaming or blaming self or others.
Today I was thinking of the expression “to fight fire with fire” for sure sometimes we have to throw off the attacker but sometimes a dose of fire on fire only leads to a massive flare up which only ends with everything getting burnt to ash.. in the end adult containment is what is needed, along with the capacity to hold, non react and process, while looking for a more workable solution… This process is coming for me at age 58 going on 5 or 6 is slow.. but I am grateful for that check list of Anderson’s to get more of a handle when the younger more dysfunctional me has taken control of a painful or difficult situation.
So get this. I’m desperately trying to change. To stop being negative about others and myself. That excludes certain world leaders who get an exemption from this… just try to be positive. Spent to many years wasting energy on crap that ultimately only impacts on one person – me. Sending you hugs for your cold weather.
Aww yes hurting me ours erlved over the others silliness isn’t worth the grief. Thanks so much I’m cuddled under the electric throw tonight.
The child in us would, act out, because s/he wasn’t, taken care of, and, if we don’t, learn, to fulfill the needs we didn’t have as children, as adults, this child inside each of us would, take over, our lives, and, get us into, more trouble than we’ll, ever be able to, handle…
lol true thought its not funny I can see the funny side
I can totally relate to this too! I act out a lot when sad, disappointed, fearful, or even sometimes when excited.
It gets hard to contain emotions doesn’t it?.. this was enlightening to me…
Yes, so true and definitely an eye-opener.
You know that I have Literally walk through the belly of Fucking Brimstone
So many say we all go through things get over it or stop dwelling the Raw Truth many have absolutely no idea to even fathom what it is like to walk in my shoes for an hour let alone every single day.
Quite honestly the blunt Raw Truth is many wouldn’t even fucking survive or even been able to endured to know what Hell is literally raping you of your innocence and those that know don’t give a damn fall on deaf ears or it’s too much for them to conceive such Nemesis could be allowed to exist and flourish.
Just like the victims of both Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein
Epstein had to be silence so either Ghislaine Maxwell had him taking out or someone sure did couldn’t have him singing his wicked sadistic deeds of cruelty to the world eh.
When many found out about Maxwell being his right hand madame they were shock you think because she was woman that all women are caring ,nurturing Mother’s think again
“Nemesis comes in many forms and it can take many images ”
Alex
Yes pure evil of that nature is so hard to fathom. It’s like ice soooo disturbing.👹