When's Recess? Playing Your Way Through the Stresses of Life by Howard Papush

Author:Howard Papush [Papush, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781412225878
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Published: 2004-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 25

IT’S TIME YOUR INNER CHILD AND I HAD A TALK

“Your inner child needs you to give him your time and attention. By doing this, you will let him know that he has a real champion.”

—John Bradshaw, Best-selling Author (1933-present)

Often people ask me if I ever get “performance fear” when I’m about to make a presentation. My response is that I probably would if, when I looked out at the sea of faces, I saw only adults looking back at me. But the truth is I actually envision the faces of children out there, peering over the shoulders of what seem the bodies of grownup men and women. And those kids have smiling faces and are eager to hear what I have to say. So why would I be afraid?

As I wrote previously, there are usually three types of people in my audience—the “competitors,” the “cautious ones,” and a few “cynics.” Interestingly you see these three character types on the playground as well. There are the kids who are ready to jump into everything, the kids who hold back until they feel safe, and the few others who keep themselves separated from the group because of their insecurities. Remember the story I told you about “Iguana” with the postal service?

I imagine you fall into groups one and two. But if you do identify with the cynics, I want to thank you for being open to my book as well. Your inner child may be scared but you’re still willing to listen and I applaud you for that.

So let’s begin the next part of this journey together. I want to have a conversation with your Inner Child. Still not sure he or she exists? Let me verbalize what this child is likely to say on any given Monday morning.

“I don’t want to go to work today. Why don’t we go to the beach instead!”

Or else that little voice might show up in the restaurant at lunchtime and ask, “Why are we ordering a salad? Didn’t you see the dessert cart over there? Let’s have some gooey chocolate cake right now.”

When I speak these scenarios in my seminars people instantly start laughing. Come on—who hasn’t heard that voice at one time or another? Well, that’s your Inner Child talking to you. Kids like to have fun. They don’t want to do chores—they want to go to the beach or outside to play. And most kids would certainly pick chocolate cake over something green any day.

Now I’m not suggesting you give in to that voice, cut work and go to the beach (although some days that might be the antidote for having worked much too hard the week before). And I don’t believe that a fabulous-looking dessert is as good for you at lunch time as a salad might be. But you don’t always have to follow the nutritionist’s guidelines perfectly. That’s just a couple of examples of your inner kid talking to you. I’m sure you could come up with countless more.

Okay now allow the “inner child” part of you to listen to what I am about to say.

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