Naturally, just like with any regular child, our inner child can too disappear and go hiding. Maybe it even leaves our body, as part of our soul can do, when threatened with a life and death trauma. Mine went hiding inside my air-tubes in my chest, which I discovered in 2008. Afraid to breathe. Afraid to live.
The path to healing is a process, a work in progress. I've grieved a lot. At first, I thought my crying was because of loosing my mother, but I was also loosing myself. Nowadays, I haven't felt the need to cry for several years, besides becoming moved on rare occasion. Our inner child, at least mine, is naturally at peace, loving and happy! So, how do we keep ourselves happy?
Besides finding out and enabling your inner child's preferences and needs, we must also find out what makes her (or him) leave. I've come to know that angry outbursts seems to be perceived as threats. Perhaps because my Dad so often raised his voice and threatened with sanctions, whenever he felt that I wasn't obedient, such as honoring a set time. Thus, whenever I get angry, I feel like part of me leaves. What I therefore need to learn, is to build trust that I become angry as a means to protect myself, and my inner child, when necessary. Not to punish. That it's safe to express my anger and a good thing, when others aren't honoring my boundaries and letting me remain at peace.
What can you think of that would make your inner child go and hide?