“What do you do with the bad you feel, when you feel so bad you could bite?” When was the last time someone showed you that kind of interest, especially when you were angry and hurt?

Once I focused on that anger and asked questions of it, I learned that it was indeed an adolescent personality in me that not only was angry but also hurt and afraid. He believed he had to protect me from being hurt by people I got close to, so he led with his anger in times of danger. However, that anger is not his essence—it just comes with the t

This inner child HATES feeling any emotions except those that are pleasurable. Remember, his goal is always to seek comfort. The inner child of a man who has a low emotional IQ is hypervigilant and on the alert for troubling emotions experienced internally as well as those expressed by others.

It is up to each and every one of us to sit ourselves down and accept that because we are here, we are supposed to be here. Once you have settled that question for yourself—and figured out who the archers were in your life—it is no longer just about improving self-esteem. It expands into the joys of self-expression and the right to self-protection.