Thinking Back To Your Childhood
Forgotten Bits and Pieces of Ourselves
A book about “discovering and recovering your creative self” is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I enjoyed it very much, although some aspects can be a bit much (referring to the reader’s creative side as “your artist” frequently, and sometimes sounding a bit like “The Secret”. )
However, it has some very interesting perspectives and certainly may encourage the reader to remove self-imposed and other-imposed mental blocks of any kind. It is essentially a twelve-week program for opening up your thinking and creativity as well as helping you gain confidence and creative energy–but you also can simply read it and use it in ways that help you.
Among the ideas presented are that we can benefit by opening our minds to things we have closed off or forgotten about for decades. The implication is that we don’t forget, we just close off. Through remembering we may remind ourselves of things we once wanted or wanted to be, we might come to a fuller appreciation of why we are as we are today, and we may, in some ways, begin again.
I’m not certain that is the result for most people who dig deeper than usual to remember details of their childhood. My experience has been that it often results in a bit of melancholy for most people, tears for a few, and some repressed bitterness, laughed away to keep from sounding like a whiner. All of those may be very useful feelings if they are accepted and dealt with and you move on. (It was a long time ago and you have had a grownup life of your own since then!)
Nevertheless, I recall that a psychologist friend of mine once told me that almost everyone—in spite of disclaimers to the contrary–has strong memories of childhood and enjoys talking about them. I told him at the time that I thought it was easier to talk about childhood memories than to think about them. So, you may want to read these to someone and take turns talking about your responses! (Some are questions to answer, some are sentences to complete.)
1. I remember one time when I was playing outside and having fun. I was………
2. How excited I would be when I found out we were having one of my favorite things for dinner! It was…………”
3. I remember this one really good time with my Dad. It was…..
4. I remember Summer days. Some of the things I remember are…………
5. When I picture me as a child I think of this time frame more than others……. I think this is why……
6. I remember this one really good time with my Mom. It was………..
7. I’m glad I’m an adult and don’t have to keep living like my childhood. That’s why I don’t……..
8. One of the best things about me now, got started when I was just a child. It’s this…….
9. If my childhood me were here right now, I’d want to give that child this advice……..
10. If my childhood me were here right now, the child I was would smile and be glad to hear about……….
Consider sharing these with your spouse, your own children, with coworkers or a friend. But do it with a focus on appreciation for the best things rather than melancholy about the worst. They’re not the whole you, just tiny bits and pieces.
