this is interesting... all perspectives, and as i said, each one is different. It's disappointing that we cannot make the 'true" way the minds works known to us... like religion we seem to have to choose and have faith (an analogy only).

i don't personally think i have an inner child.. but i have no issues with people who do believe so, it's about our own experiences...about what makes sense and feels "right" to us i guess. With no real fool proof way to quantify human experience, everything is open to interpretation.

what i experience is an odd sensation... i know that whenever i have looked at pictures of myself from certain ages i seem more engaged with the image and i have gotten flooded with emotion. Often i have had no real idea why. Part of me felt really bad for the kid in the picture, even as i recognize that kid as me. What i think is that feelings associated with that age are triggered but without the coinciding memory attached to it... so for *myself* it feels like pressure emotionally... flooded with feeling that needs to be voiced or understood but has no reference without the memories which caused them.

right now, i feel "shown" images and flashes of memory. My memories, and all of which i do recall once my attention is turned their way... what interests me is the turning of my attention. i think it's all me, but i find it curious how it all happens without awareness of the "happening."

thanks everyone for responding, it's not easy to answer when what you say or think may be questioned. It's a difficult idea.