The Inner Child Project - The Infant Self

The Inner Child- The Infant Self

The painting of the child in the crib represents needs not being met.  For me, this was mostly related to trust.  The painting is mostly watercolor mediums and pastels.

The degree of nurturing, safety, and trust you feel toward others is a clue to the degree of nurturing, safety, and trust you felt when you were an infant.  From birth to about 18 months, the developmental task you needed to master was bonding with your caretaker and learning about nurturing and trust.  If this did not occur, you may grow up to fear closeness or remain  forever dependent on others to meet your needs.  

One of the exercises in the book asks questions and then you can see how you fare in each of the categories of safety, nurturance, and trust.  I failed trust and did not do too well in safety.  Nurturance was ok.  

Potential issues from this developmental stage include:

• Fear of intimacy because it could result in abandonment.
• Needing but being afraid of physical affection
• Continual need for oral gratification as in eating and smoking and drinking
• Fear of acknowledging needs because of the fear that they will not be met
• Inability to trust even in trustworthy situations