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You are here: Home Blog On Archetypes Understanding the Wounded Child Archetype
Understanding the Wounded Child Archetype
Written by Susanna June 6, 2013 in On Archetypes with 33 Comments
Feeling misunderstood
Dirty, tattered and lost child who has been uncared for
If only my parents could have loved me for who I am I could be a better parent
If only I had been born whole and not stuck in a broken body I wouldnt be depressed
If only I had been loved and cared about I might have turned out better
If only I had been treated with respect I wouldnt be so angry all the time
If only I had not been in that car accident I could pursue the life I have dreamed of
If only my innocence had not been stolen from me I could have a healthy sex life
The Shadow Wounded Child deeply believes that if their initiatory wound had never
occurred, their life would be the way it was meant to be, that the wound somehow ruined
their chance for a normal life. The Shadow Wounded Child feels that the wound threw their
entire life off track. There is a deep fear of change because the Wounded Child knows that if they
heal their wounds their life will change. Change equals loss. Loss is unbearable. They already
feel like they have lost something deep and intrinsic and therefore they are clinging to
everything else. Dont dismiss this idea because you may be of the personality type that can roll
with change and adjusts to it relatively easy. Another of way of looking at this could be fear of
letting go. Letting go of an old identity, letting go of your children or spouse, letting go of your
anger and resentment, letting go of sadness or the victim role and letting go of how others
perceive you are a few examples. Fear of change doesnt always look so obvious but it is one
of the most consistent patterns of the Wounded Child archetype.
The Need to be Understood
Feeling misunderstood is a common experience for the Shadow Wounded Child. The
Shadow Wounded Child believes that they feel life more deeply and intensely than others. They
tend to take things personally too by internalizing situations and relationships. They are easily
offended and hurt and others often feel they have to walk on egg shells around the
Shadow Wounded Child. The intense need for others to understand them while simultaneously
believing that others can never understand leaves them feeling emotionally raw or needy. This
need to be understood/you will never understand conundrum can be expressed in a variety of
behaviors such as: self-pity, self-isolation, anger, stoicism, clingy/neediness, depression,
overemotional, irrational, resentful and vengeful. The Wounded Child is desperately seeking
to understand the pain that seems to be lurking in the background or foreground of their
life. This search can cause the Shadow Wounded Child to be drawn to other peoples suffering
Desire to have something terrible happen to you (but not too terrible)
to never get enough of it. They want to give to others but feel that the wound prevents them
from being able to give so they get stuck in a cycle of want and emotional impoverishment.
The Enlightened Wounded Child
Forgiveness
Forgiveness is one of those words that is routinely misused and misunderstood.Letting go is not
forgiveness although forgiveness cannot happen until you let go first. Forgiveness is what
happens when you stop rejecting what you believe to be the cause of your suffering. My
own definition: Forgiveness means making room for more. What I mean by that, is this: When I
am unforgiving I am rejecting the bad thing that happened and not allowing it to be a part of me.
Forgiveness is opening up to the bad thing and allowing it in. You may be surprised to find
relief in this and that it in no way diminishes the pain but actually validates it in a way that
nothing else does. The Enlightened Wounded Child has a tender and open heart. This makes
them open to wounding but it also makes them open to forgiveness. Forgiveness or the need to
forgive is a theme for the Wounded Child. For the Enlightened Wounded Child forgiveness is
a way of life. Forgiving the past, forgiving the hurt and forgiving the losses or in other
words making room for the past, making room for the hurt and making room the losses
means you dont exactly let it go as much as you widen your capacity to hold it and end the
resistance to it. This is the daily spiritual practice of the Enlightened Wounded Child.
For example: My own childhood abuse was something that I personally felt had wounded
me and I could not let go of what had happened. I didnt understand then that the wound
or pain, was showing me the way to greater understanding. I rejected the abuse because I
was afraid if I accepted it, it would mean I believed I deserved the abuse. I finally
realized that no amount of validation from others would give me the proof of my
suffering better than me accepting it. I forgave my abuse by opening up my heart to fit it
in there with love and belonging. I could be abused as a child and I could also be loved as
a child. I was trying to make them mutually exclusive because I believed the one
canceled out the other. When I realized I could embrace both a newer truth revealed itself
to me: I was wounded and what happened to me was wrong and that wound was also my
gift. I can recognize that others wronged me and also take responsibility for my pain. The
ability to hold the paradox is part of the development that comes from forgiveness.
Forgiveness is a paradox because by letting go you are also embracing.
Standing in the Fire
The Enlightened Wounded Child discovers that by entering the darkness of their pain and
working through it, that they can stand in the fire of pain and not be burned. Their capacity
to get close to others pain without getting caught up in it, makes them ideal healers, doctors,
nurses, therapists and others in the healing arts. They are like mountain men who know a
particular terrain and can be a guide for others who are passing through. But this mountain is
where the Wounded Child lives and has made their peace. They have mastered the art of
letting go, embracing intense emotions and being a channel for others to release their pain.
Suffering, pain, sorrow, and depression are all places the Enlightened Wounded Child has been
and is not afraid to revisit. Rather than avoiding it, the Enlightened Wounded Child embraces
these negative aspects of the human experience. They learn that some wounds arent meant
to be healed but to be understood. The darkness becomes depth and the pain is only a
sharpener to maintain keenness and sensitivity. Compassion can then be developed and the
Enlightened Wounded Child is deeply compassionate and caring.
Animals and the Wounded Child
The Wounded Child is often drawn to animals. They may belong to an animal rescue
organization, start their own, or work at a shelter. This love of animals could also be expressed as
an interest in birdwatching or other wildlife or involvement in programs to protect endangered
wildlife. Horses are well known for their therapeutic uses in treating anything from depression to
restoring a sense of purpose for wounded military veterans. A love of horses is often connected
to the Wounded Child. Service dogs are another form of healing for those who have
physical handicaps but what is often discovered is that the handicapped person is healed
emotionally by the relationship with the service animal. One of the reasons animals are
healing is because animals are present. They are not dwelling on the past or hurrying toward the
next activity. This presence has a healing effect on the Wounded Child who is still learning to be
in the moment where the pain dwells. Animals also serve as teachers to the Wounded Child to
help them understand how to be in the present moment, how to love unconditionally, and
how to accept themselves and their circumstances completely. In many cases, animals can
offer validation and comfort where human beings fail. Horses and dogs are the most common
animals loved by the Wounded Child but dont discount pigs, cats, ferrets and birds either.
Animals can be used in the shadow too as the Wounded Child pulls away from the world of
people, the perceived source of their pain, and take refuge in the animals thereby avoiding
and even refusing to confront their emotional trauma. The animal acts as a shield from
further wounding but it can also prevent the necessary push that drives a suffering person to heal.
The Gift of the Wound
How can a wound or pain be a gift? Here is an analogy:
Think of yourself as a perfectly decorated room filled with just the sort of furniture you
like and the colors on the ceiling and walls are your favorite colors. Everything you need
is right here in this room. It is who you are. Except . . . right in the middle of one of the
walls is a huge gash. It has torn the expensive wallpaper and the sheet-rock is hanging out
in clumps. It ruins the room and leaves you feeling exposed and afraid. Its dark on the
other side of the hole and you worry about the demons or monsters that might come
through the hole in the wall. You gather all of your things and move them to a safer
corner. You watch the hole constantly. Fear and anxiety become your constant
companions. Then you wonder if anyone else has a hole in their wall and you decide that
you are the only one who is ruined. That this hole cannot be fixed. You stop caring about
yourself and you stop inviting others into your room because you are ashamed of it. You
try to patch it up but the patch is just as ugly as the hole. You move a big piece of
furniture in front of it but that doesnt work either because YOU know what is behind it.
This hiding of the hole makes you feel like a fraud, that other people think you have a
perfectly lovely room when you know that you dont. This knowledge keeps you isolated
and hungry for love. But one day, when the loneliness and the craving gets to be too
much you venture over to the hole and peer inside. Its cold and forbidding and you can
hear frightened voices echoing inside. You feel afraid but you are also curious. After a
while you get the courage to go into this dark hole to explore. Each time you enter you
experience a terrifying sense of hopelessness and loss so you back out and retreat to your
corner. But you cant turn away from the hole in the wall. So one day, you brave your
way all the way through the darkness and you enter a hallway. Its dark but you feel less
afraid for the first time. All along this hallway are doors. Each door leads to a different
room or space. Each one is uniquely you. As you peek into these rooms you find huge
bedrooms with fireplaces and stained glass windows, or libraries with books from ceiling
to floor. Some rooms are airy arboretums with birds and butterflies, other rooms are
places to eat and invite friends and family. These are all the rooms that are beyond the
hole in the wall. But the only way to reach them is to go through the dark part and face
the cold and the voices. But you did it once and you can do it again. In fact, you decide to
turn your hole into an opening by cleaning up the edges and nailing on some finish
molding around the sides. When you are finished, it no longer appears to be a mistake, it
is no longer a hole that was torn into your wall but a window or a doorway. While it
remains dark you have the knowledge of what lies beyond that darkness.
This is the gift of the wound.
Capacity to Love Others
In its shadow the Wounded Child is looking for others to love them but the Enlightened
Wounded Child knows that what they really long for is giving love to others. I want to love is
truer for the Wounded Child than I want to BE loved. Unconditional love is part of the
Enlightened Wounded Child and therefore they are brimming with affection and
compassion for others. They are usually the friend that others turn to for understanding and
support. They have a strong desire to understand others deeply and are usually non-judgmental
and openhearted. They have overcome their fears of rejection and know that they can handle
whatever comes their way. The Enlightened Wounded Child has learned that to Give is to
Get. Understanding others is the key to understanding themselves. Giving love allows the
Wounded Child to feel and receive the love of others freely and unconditionally because
they have learned to love who they are enough to share that love with others. The Wounded
Child gains the sense of connection and belonging that they felt was denied them, when they can
be who they truly are and to be authentic and real. Many a Wounded Child has felt ashamed of
their wound, that it makes them less of a person when in reality it makes them more. They
have more to give, more understanding and more tenderness, rather than less. The wound when
properly recognized and confronted becomes a light of hope to themselves and the rest of the
world.
Conclusion
When transformed from the shadow to the light the Wounded Child archetype is a
powerful example of the resiliency of the human spirit. They are open, tender, vulnerable and
wise. Their life experience has taught them that the pain that once dominated their life is the
source of their compassion, their insight, depth and wisdom.