The Wounded Child archetype is one of several aspects of the Child archetype. The others include the Magical Child, The Nature Child, the Abandoned child, the Divine Child, the Invisible Child, and the Eternal Child. Everyone shares the Child archetype as well as its variations to some extent or another.
The Wounded Child is an archetype that contains negative emotional patterns children experienced. The wounds could have been abuse, neglect, or trauma, but they usually occur before seven. There is permanent damage that is haunting them.
The pain from their childhood wound will repeatedly replay in their adult life until the trauma or wound is healed.
Anger is a pattern of behavior that manifests. The pattern remains
with them and erupts as they grow older. There’s a continual eruption that plays out throughout their adult life. It’s destructive because the wounded child acts out the wounds of his childhood and feels justified doing that. That’s the child part—the temper tantrum.
One thing to remember when you are dealing with a Wounded Child, whether it’s someone else or yourself—it’s a pattern of behavior, and it’s not personal. When the Child archetype comes out, it is in the Shadow aspect. It is a time when the Wounded Child can feel misunderstood, such as reliving an event where they were accused or punished for something they didn’t do. Or perhaps they are reminded of a time when they were abandoned.
Whatever it is, the wound can only be healed by first recognizing the behavior pattern and that it’s not personal.
All Wounded Children erupt in anger; that’s just the pattern; it’s not personal. The Shadow aspect may manifest in self-pity, with a tendency to blame their parents for the reason why they are in their current position. It also blocks the path to forgiveness.
However, the painful experiences of the Wounded Child archetype can often awaken a deep sense of compassion, where there is a call to being of service to help other Wounded Children. From this spiritual enlightenment, a path of forgiveness is opened.
Do you have the Wounded Child archetype?
If you have the Wounded Child archetype, you may relate to one of the following behavior patterns.
The Wounded Child shows itself when:
you don’t get what you want
you need your wound to be validated
your wound is more significant than anyone else’s
you always look for someone to take responsibility for what happened to you
you frequently need to be loved and valued
How does one move from the shadow to the light?
All the Child archetype variations have a presence in the subconscious that is universal, as do the other three Survival Archetypes, and it is crippling in their adverse effects. Through becoming self-aware, it is through recognizing and identifying repeated patterns of behavior throughout our lives that have had authority over our choices. You embark on the Journey of Life where you move from the caboose of your train—where life drags you—to the engine—where you have the power to direct it.
The Journey of Life is a process and not something that is done quickly. Learning why you do the things you do will enable you to make better decisions and identify the actions you need to take to start down the path of personal evolution and transformation.
Schedule your free 15-minute Assessment today to begin your Journey of Empowerment.
We all have archetypes—universal patterns of mythical power— within our psyche, and the Saboteur archetype may be the most difficult to understand because its name is associated with betrayal. Caroline Myss calls it the Guardian of Choice because its purpose is to help you identify when you are about to make a decision that weakens you.
When an opportunity arises that helps you grow by stretching your comfort zone, have you ever heard a whispering voice beneath you that says, “You’re not good enough. You’ll never make that achievement?” If you have, what you’re hearing is the internal Saboteur raising the possibility of failure, which is a decidedly fearsome prospect.
Another example is when you fear success. You call upon the Saboteur to destroy the foundation of that success because the responsibility seems overwhelming: What if I let people down? What if I’m not able to sustain the position?
The Saboteur operates in the shadows of our subconscious.
HOW TO BECOME AWARE OF THE SABOTEUR
The Saboteur’s fears and issues are all related to low self-esteem that causes you to make choices that block your empowerment and success.
The Saboteur’s core issue is fear of initiating change into your life, change that rearranges your entire reality and requires you to respond in a positive way to opportunities that shape and deepen your self-esteem and empowerment. Ignore it, and the shadow Saboteur will manifest in the form of destructive behavior or the desire to undermine others.
It typically makes its presence known through a feeling or a thought that is rooted in fear. It may be a feeling of anxiety, doubt, of looking stupid, lack of confidence, or being afraid of failing. The Saboteur can guard your heart and push away any people or opportunities that bring you joy or success.
Only when we become aware of the Saboteur and recognize it can we make it our ally. The first way you can explore the shadow aspect of the Saboteur is to observe your behavior. You can effectively do this by creating a journal where you recorded the times or events when you realized you’d sabotaged yourself.
The keyword here is OBSERVE. The Saboteur needs to be recognized for it to be integrated.
You don’t want to analyze. You want to observe, and through the power of observation, you will garner the capacity to see things from a higher perspective, which will lead to positive behavioral change.
QUESTIONS TO ASK OF YOURSELF
Acknowledging the Saboteur requires us to take responsibility as we must look at our failures and missed opportunities and find how we contributed to the situation. A few questions to ask yourself to learn how to become aware of the action of the Saboteur within are:
In what areas of my life do I fear change?
What fears have the most authority over me? List three.
How have I thwarted my success in the past?
What am I protecting myself or someone else from by sabotaging my success?
What happens when fear overtakes me? Does it make me silent?
Have I let creative opportunities pass me by?
How conscious am I in the moment that I am sabotaging myself?
When we make the Saboteur our friend and ally, we can then make decisions based on our highest purpose in life, as we stand firm in our center with unwavering self-esteem rather than giving in to our fears egos.
