There are too many little people inside me who are struggling to get out. It is not just me, but these little people are inside all of us!
When I first heard of the idea of Inner Child, I was a little perplexed. We have to find the Inner Child, we have to nurture the Inner Child, we have to allow the Inner Child to bloom, we have to allow the Inner Child to play and so on. If we are going to do all this the Outer Adult has no time for anything. But then I thought if there can be an Inner Child in us why can't there be other people too?
Have you come across children who talk like adults? The say things either they should not be aware of or should not be saying. When we were kids, if we spoke out of turn or said something too wise, we were reprimanded, “Don't talk like a grandfather”. So you see if there can be an Inner Child, there can be an Inner Grandparent in all of us :-)
Most of us do fall sick at one time or the other. When some well meaning friend, member of the family suggest we see the doctor, we grandly announce that whatever we are suffering from will go away in a day or so. We will also announce the diagnosis, what caused it and what will cure it and list out others who have suffered from it and how they overcame it. There is an Inner Doctor inside all of us waiting to get out the moment we or someone close to us is indisposed.
When there is a party and someone shy takes courage and plunges into a song, we all clap and tell her “You should sing more often”, “Have you thought of singing as a profession?”, “Next Lata Mangeshkar” and so on. We are encouraging the Inner Singer. When no one is watching us or is within an earshot many try singing and dancing a couple of times. The Inner Dancer matching steps with Inner Singer.
If a group members behaves slightly different from normal, all of us want to analyze and conclude with certainty the reasons for his behaviour. All of us love playing the Psychologist and the Psychiatrist even if we don't know the difference. Don't be alarmed, it is the Inner Freud in all of us.
We have an Inner Actor, Inner Director, Inner Guru, Inner Philosopher, Inner Prime Minister, who know how to run each of the jobs. Just waiting for the right opportunity to emerge!
Since I have been having some time of late, I have been writing more often and someone predictably pontificated that I should let my Inner Writer out. So I wrote this piece and took it to my friend to get an opinion.
“What do you think of this piece?” I asked
“Okay”, he said
“No, no, don't be shy”, I encouraged him, “Tell me what you really think of it”, I could not but add, “Let your Inner Critic come out”
“This is a good one, but you have left out one important person inside our head”
“Who is that?” I asked curiously
“Haven't you noticed that at times everyone acts illogically as if they have stopped thinking? At such times another of their inner personalities emerges. Of course this person in never inside us always inside others”
“Who is this person?”, I was piqued.
“Your Inner Idiot” was the answer.
Comments