The Story of My Inner Child

Growing up, I had a natural ability to write and draw; my two favourite subjects at school were English Literature and Art. However, I never pursued a career in any of these areas because I didn’t believe in myself or my abilities.

As a child, I was constantly told I was worthless, good-for-nothing, didn’t deserve it (anything I wanted), and that I was ugly. These heterosuggestions went deep into my subconscious mind, and became the program I ran on as an adult. I subconsciously believed anything I produced was also worthless, good for nothing, and ugly. 😣 💭

I grew up with low self-esteem, lacked self-confidence, and would screw up any piece of writing or drawings I did, because I thought they weren’t good enough – a reflection of how I felt about myself! 🤕

So instead of pursuing a career that utilized my natural God-given talents, I ended up doing Accounts, when maths was my worst subject at school! 🤦🏾‍♀️

By my mid twenties, I had stopped being creative altogether. This was the last picture I drew (using pastels) back in 1986:

As you can see, I clearly was good at art, but my perception of myself was reflected in how I viewed my work. My lover-friend had asked me to do a portrait of his favourite singer, Alexandra O’Neal from the record sleeve; when he saw my creation, he threw the original on the floor!

Still, I remained a blocked writer and artist for over 20 years after that. My inner child was crying out to be heard, but I ignored her.

I was unfulfilled, and miserable in my job as an Accounts Clerk.

After the birth of my second ‘sun’ in 1995, I decided I wanted to do something that would work around them. I wanted to go back to being creative, but I didn’t know how. I attracted a book called ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron, which helped me begin the process of unblocking.

This book literally saved my inner child’s life! I didn’t just read it, I did all the daily and weekly tasks (it’s a 12-week course). The first thing I had to do was start writing my Morning Pages, three A4 pages every morning, of any thoughts that came into my mind (it didn’t have to make sense). The second thing was to take my inner child on weekly ‘Artist Dates‘. This was fun!

Some parts of the process involved going deep into the recesses of my mind to uncover where that critical voice in my head was coming from that kept saying “You? A great artist? LOL!” or “You? A best-selling author? You could never amount to that!” The exercises helped me get to the root cause of my insecurities, and to begin counter-attacking them with POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS like “I am a brilliant and successful artist”, “I am a prolific writer”, “I have rich creative talents”, “I am competent and confident in my creative work”, “I am a channel for the Creator to create through”, in order to get my creative juices flowing again.

‘The Artist’s Way’ taught me how to nurture my inner child, and to give her the freedom she desired to create. As the adult, I had to learn how to step out of the way, and allow her to be free to create without crippling her creativity.

By the 8th week, I was writing and painting freely!

I wrote a poem in 2001 called ‘My Artist Child’ (inspired by ‘The Artist’s Way’) which explains the inner struggle I went through to set my inner child free (see my Art page).

There was a real struggle going on between my adult, ego self, filled with self-consciousness and learned restrictions, and my uninhibited, free-spirited inner child. Thank goodness, my inner child won! 😅

The first painting I did when I unblocked as an artist in 2009 was of my inner child:

When I started writing my novel in 2010 (re-titled Journey of a Sister in 2016) my job as the adult was to get out of the way and let her be free. I used My Inner Child to illustrate the e-book for Year Two, because there’s a part where Suzanne inspires Charles to awaken his inner child! (‘Lace Seduction’).

The thing I love about my inner child is her ability to write about adult topics with the uninhibited innocence of a child, and to express herself in a way that I (the adult) wouldn’t dare to! When I was writing ‘Journey of a Sister’ I kept hearing that critical voice inside my head saying “You can’t write that!”, but I just ignored it and allowed my inner child the freedom to write whatever she chose…so after publishing my novel and putting it out there for the world to see, I felt compelled to write ‘Part Two‘ of my poem:

My inner child is wild and free – she has no boundaries!

When I decided to set her free I KNEW it would cost me my privacy! (and anyone who’s had anything to do with me so if that’s you, I’m sorry.)

She sits in the seat of my subconscious mind observing all I’m doing, then she turns my experiences into a song, story or poem!

Thanks to her, my life is an open book

Go on, open it, take a look!

And she’s left me (the adult) to deal with all the DRAMA she creates

She doesn’t know where to draw the line!

I know I should be embarrassed, but to be honest,

All I keep seeing are POUND SIGNS ££££££££!

Where Did the Name ‘Cezanne’ Come From?

Cezanne is my ‘spiritual’ name: When I was around 14 years old, I was in the back of class at school, doodling on the back of my textbook (obviously bored!). As I was drawing randomly, the name ‘Cezanne’ appeared in the doodles! The name stuck in the back of my mind all the years I was a blocked writer and artist, and only came back to me when I had to name my inner child as part of Julia Cameron’s book ‘The Artist’s Way‘.

I’ve now changed my name by Deed Poll, in the hope that eventually, my inner child will take over completely! Setting her free has enabled me to write and record over 30 poems, write two self-help books and a collection of award-winning poetry, paint 11 paintings, and I’m still creating, including building and maintaining this website, writing my first speech (Use Your Subconscious Mind to Create the Life YOU Choose!) and developing workshops!

Join me on the ‘Nurture Your Inner Child’ Online Course!

Would you like me to take you through the same processes I went through to unblock as a writer and artist? Then join me on a journey using the same tools I learned from ‘The Artist’s Way’. By the end of the (online) course you’ll have something you created, and the tools to keep your creative juices flowing! As part of the course, I will also be teaching Colour Therapy (I healed myself from Seasonal Affective Disorder using the colours in my paintings!)

Use the Contact Form below to register your interest in the Nurture Your Inner Child Online Course or email cezanne@journeyofasister.com putting ‘Art Course’ in the Subject Line.

Visit my Art page to learn about the Colours & Symbolism in my paintings and to download them to your device so you can benefit from the Colour Therapy in them too!