I embarked on writing this book when I found myself in the throes of a serious internal conflict. It was a conflict within me that defied explanation or naming. I was highly emotional, making decisions that I couldn't retrace, and these were, indeed, not my finest moments.

My therapist recommended this book to me, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The only reason for the deduction of one star is my own skepticism regarding the meditations. There is no doubt in my mind that they are beneficial to many people. However, they simply didn't resonate with me on a deep level. Nevertheless, they serve a purpose, and the more you engage with the book, the more you understand why John places such emphasis on them.

Healing oneself is a process that demands time, grace, and compassion for the person you have become throughout the years. Six months of reading this book will undoubtedly demonstrate that the work required is not for those who choose to move on hastily, bottle up their emotions, or sweep their issues under the rug. This book is intended for those individuals who possess the courage to confront themselves, challenge their perceptions of what they know, and ultimately embrace the child within them.

Read this book, but be prepared to feel the emotions you have long forgotten, encounter the person you have always been, and envision life as the masterpiece you have the power to create.

I had a rather complex set of reactions to this book.

On the one hand, the fundamental concept it presents, namely how childhood wounds can escalate and morph into adult problems, is of utmost importance. It really makes one stop and think about the long-term impacts of our early experiences.

However, it's clear that this book is a relic of its era. Bradshaw makes some rather bold claims, such as suggesting that repression can cause cancer, and he adheres to Freud's theory of psychosexual stages (oral, anal, etc.), which has long been abandoned or at least not taken as seriously in modern psychology.

Moreover, the book is rife with implicit gender role stereotypes that many readers will likely find off-putting.

Despite all this, I have to admit that a few tears did manage to well up in my eyes while I was reading. This shows that, to some extent, it achieved its intended purpose of helping me gain a deeper understanding of just how profound and far-reaching childhood wounds can be.

Overall, I'm quite certain that there are numerous more contemporary books available that do a better job of explaining psychoanalytic concepts. While there are indeed some great and valid points in this book that rang true for me, there is also a significant amount of dubious content that comes along with it.

After a while, I quickly realized that the best approach to reading this book is to simply skim through it, get the general gist, and not worry too much about the finer details. I would rate this book a 2.5 stars.

I have come to the realization that I frequently neglect to review and rate books that make me feel exposed and vulnerable. Those books that have been of great assistance to me and could potentially benefit others are largely overlooked simply because I am reluctant to make this knowledge public.

However, now I have my first chance to do better and bring about a change in this regard. This particular book was one of the very first of its kind that I read when I was in my 20s. It had a profound impact on me, quite literally transforming my world-view and my perception of myself.

It opened my eyes to new perspectives and made me question many of the beliefs and assumptions that I had held dear. It was a truly life-changing experience, and yet, until now, I had not shared my thoughts and feelings about it with the world.

But no more. I am determined to start being more open and honest about the books that have touched my heart and changed my life, in the hope that they might have a similar effect on others.

The audiocassette has now been successfully transferred to Audible. It offers an enlightening and in-depth exploration of our early years, starting from birth and extending to the early school years. This exploration aims to assist us in determining the origin of our negative conditioning.

This negative conditioning can pertain to various aspects such as money, love, business, and so on. However, the formational beliefs that we acquire and become conditioned by often impose limitations on our potential, even if some of these beliefs were "bestowed" upon us out of love.

The audio combines presentations and insights with meditation (regression) exercises. These exercises are designed to help you independently discover the source of some of your inner demons. If you have recognized that you might not have had the ideal framework during your upbringing (a situation that applies to the majority of us), then add this audio to your list of things to listen to and commence the process of reconditioning your limiting beliefs.

With a runtime of just over 3 hours, it provides an excellent (and often humorous) means to quickly reach the core of yourself.

Many chapters I learned a ton from, such as part 1 and chapter 10. These chapters provided valuable knowledge and insights that I will surely carry with me. However, there were also a significant number of chapters that were far too drawn out. The excessive length made it a bit of a struggle to stay engaged and fully absorb the content. It felt as if the authors could have presented the same information in a more concise and streamlined manner. This would have made the reading experience more enjoyable and less time-consuming. Despite this drawback, I still managed to gain a lot from the overall book. I look forward to exploring the remaining chapters and seeing if there are any more hidden gems of knowledge waiting for me.

After reading this book, "suitable", "patient" and "effort" are the three words that come to my mind immediately.

Homecoming: Reviving the Inner Child explores a very interesting theme. If you have ever read "Finding Yourself in the Post-Childhood World" by Mr. Dang Hoang Giang, you may also have felt the long migrations of those uneasy childhoods. Therefore, I was very excited when reading Homecoming. At the beginning, this book gave me a clear and useful feeling, such as you can evaluate whether the "inner child" in you is being damaged through a questionnaire, and then go to each stage of development: infancy - toddlerhood - preschool age - school age. However, the more I read, the less I could summarize what the author was writing about. The citations are very scattered and long-winded, without a conclusion and I don't know where they are leading me. Perhaps it is mainly because I don't have an "inner child" that is damaged, so no matter how hard I try, I still can't go deep and feel empathy with what the author wrote.

Looking on Goodreads, I see that this book has many high ratings. I think maybe it's because I'm not suitable. If you have ever been damaged and need to heal, or if you are a healer, this book may be beneficial to you. Or you can look for and read other books on the same theme with more understandable content.

6/5

What an absolutely veritable and amazing piece of human knowledge this is!

This is the very first real *therapy* book that I have ever delved into. I must admit that within the space of just a few hundred pages, this book has achieved something for me that others couldn't manage through countless therapy sessions, motivational pep talks, or thousands of other pages of self-help books. It is truly amazing, especially if you are just commencing therapy for childhood trauma.

Surprisingly, it took me a full 3 months to read this book. This is because it frequently plunged me into emotional turmoil, compelling me to reflect deeply on my childhood and extracting every last tear from me. The meditations within the book are also exceptionally good, and I highly recommend not skipping them!

Undoubtedly, I will reread this book in the future. I am eager to go over it again and soak up even more of its amazing content.

Oh my. What an amazing book this is!

It's as if you're having tens of thousands of pounds worth of one-on-one sessions with a psychiatrist.

The author delves so deeply into the subject matter.

The effort you put into reading it keeps working on you, and you'll find yourself pausing frequently to process and heal during this journey.

The meditations that you record yourself are truly profound and powerful.

You can actually feel your cells rearranging as you engage with them.

This is an incredible investment for self-care and healing.

Wow, it's truly a remarkable piece of work that has the potential to bring about significant positive changes in one's life.

It's not just a book; it's a transformative experience.

Highly recommended for anyone seeking self-discovery and personal growth.

If you have ever grappled with the feeling of being a fundamentally broken individual, despite having no major trauma in your past, the concepts in this book might finally offer you some clarity. However, it's advisable not to obtain those ideas directly from this particular book. Instead, seek out information about these concepts elsewhere, perhaps by watching YouTube videos on the subject. (I initially learned about this book from Patrick Teahan on YouTube, and I highly recommend watching his videos.)

Although the core ideas of this book have the potential to transform lives, they are unfortunately buried beneath some rather problematic writing. The author peppers the book with strange vignettes, such as odd stories about an elf or a wizard, which are presumably intended to evoke emotion but instead come across as rather silly. This is especially true when these vignettes are juxtaposed with truly heart-wrenching anecdotes of childhood trauma and recovery.

Moreover, the author presents everything he says as if it were an established fact. In reality, much of what he writes is based on anecdotes, his own personal experiences, and outdated psychological theories (like Freud's discredited psycho-sexual stages). As I put it to a friend, the work that this book encourages you to undertake is indeed valid and useful, but the theories that underpin it simply don't make sense. He devotes an uncomfortable amount of time in the book discussing how if you have a sexual interest in people's butts, this has profound psychological significance and meaning in relation to connecting with your wounded inner child. However, he doesn't discuss the fetishization of any other body part in the same way (such as the fetishization of women's breasts), which makes that part of the book feel even more out of place and self-indulgent.

My suspicion is that the emotional and intuitive process of connecting with the inner child occurred to him first. Perhaps he achieved great success by advising clients to write letters to their wounded inner child, or by having conversations with clients about how their parents, while not necessarily abusive in a legal sense, might still have caused harm. Then, when he needed to explain this process to colleagues and therapists, he attempted to attach some theories as almost an afterthought.

If you do decide to give this book a chance, I would suggest that you focus on what the book is telling you to do rather than why it is telling you to do it. This is where the real substance of the book can be found.

Finally, it should be noted that the author does make an effort to be inclusive by discussing homosexual people in a validating manner. However, he is rather entrenched in his views on gender roles, which may alienate those who view traditional gender roles as problematic, or anyone who is transgender or non-binary. To be honest, I believe this is more a reflection of the fact that this book (and the author) are somewhat dated, rather than any malicious intent on the part of the author. It's just something to bear in mind if these are sensitive issues for you.

There were certain parts within the book that proved to be rather difficult to navigate through, primarily because of the existence of cultural barriers. [Religion was placed above all else.] However, when considering the book as a whole, it was indeed a good one. In fact, it was not only good but also extremely necessary. It served as a crucial starting point for me to even begin the process of healing from the long and arduous hell that I had endured.

I sincerely hope that the author's work continues to have a positive impact on others. Godspeed, sir, and thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your efforts have not gone unnoticed, and I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have read this book and begin my journey towards recovery.

Find my reviews at Feminist Quill

Synopsis: Homecoming presents the fundamental theoretical principles of “inner child healing” in psychotherapy, along with meditative exercises.

… when a child’s development is arrested, when feelings are repressed, especially the feelings of anger and hurt, a person grows up to be an adult with an angry, hurt child inside of him. This child will spontaneously contaminate the person’s adult behavior.

Bradshaw is an engaging non-fiction writer. He simplifies a complex psychological concept, explaining every aspect in detail. He also humanizes his narrative by sharing his own mistakes and journey of healing his inner child. He doesn't position himself as a teacher but as One of Us.

Children need security and healthy modeling of emotions to understand their inner signals and separate thoughts from feelings.

Homecoming explores how a troubled inner child affects us. It discusses family systems roles in dysfunctional families and how they persist into adulthood. The book validates our pain and understands our mistakes. However, it doesn't condone abuse caused by a wounded inner child.

Homecoming is an exhaustive and insightful psychological study. It can be useful as a textbook for mental health professionals or a guide for individuals improving their mental health.

Nevertheless, I found the presentation of anecdotes callous and dehumanizing. If they're from the author's practice, the real clients may read about themselves. Also, there's little introspection on the writing methodology, unlike in No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us. As a result, the book doesn't consider reducing the harm it may cause.

Mixed feelings about this one.

On one hand, it seems quite outdated, as if it belongs to a bygone era. But on the other hand, it is incredibly relevant in many ways.

The book is very much oriented towards the practical applications of the ideas, which is great. It offers useful insights and suggestions on how to apply these concepts in real life. However, it does not go into as much detail about the science behind them.

Despite this, it is still useful for figuring out on a personal level at what stages developmental growth has been stunted and what issues to focus on next in one’s own personal healing journey.

I have to admit that I read this book quite half-heartedly, but I still managed to gain a few breakthroughs.

I can recommend this book, but with a forewarning that it might be at times a bit of an infuriating read, especially if you do not identify as a white christian cis-hetero male. It seems to be written from a very specific perspective, which might not resonate with everyone.

Overall, it is a thought-provoking book that offers some valuable insights, but it is not without its flaws.