Adults and young people need to reconnect with their inner child

Regardless of age and the many restrictions of an over-structured world, it is important not to lose the ability to dream and imagine

The inner child, the loss and reconnection of one's inner child and the resulting inability or ability to dream and imagine are intensely coloured threads sewn into the rich tapestry of Quidam.

Sometimes called the child within, the inner child refers to one's original self. Over time and through circumstance, people can lose touch with this self, resulting in a variety of problems, says an expert on the subject.

'The inner child takes time to love for that is the secret of eternal youth; it takes time to laugh for that is the music of the soul. Your inner child needs to cry, which is the emotion of a great heart, and it takes the time to listen - the force of intelligence. It needs to play and dream,' said Meganne Older, a shamanic counsellor.

Losing touch with this inner self can begin at any age, and it is happening more often at a younger age.

'Children are being placed more and more in mini-adult environments well before their years, which causes huge internal conflict as a person won't develop and explore and therefore it will be difficult to love and honour one's self, which leads to low self-esteem, depression and sense of loss of identity and loss of what is truly important,' said Ms Older.

Another example is sending children to a pre-preschool in the hope that children will learn to draw and paint. Ms Older said this was a fallacy. She believed this was a classic example of choking the inner child through restrictions and too much structure.