Majin You | Unlocking Your Inner Child
Majin You | Unlocking your Inner Child
Remember waking up every morning before school, stumbling out of bed and parking yourself in front of the telly to watch Cheez TV just as mum served up a bowl of your favourite cereal?
I remember sitting there wolfing down Coco Pops and tuning into the latest episode of DragonballZ or Pokémon wondering what wild adventure today’s episode would take me on. Those cartoons really set the tone for the rest of the school day and were usually the talk of the town in handball courts around Australia.
The stories in those episodes were often inspiring, exciting and sometimes sad. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that they stuck with us since childhood and we can fondly recall our favourite scenes or episodes to this day.
The human brain – your brain – even during the tender era of childhood is a powerhouse of intelligence, constantly creating memories as reference points, building meaning out of each event and creating the foundations of the person that you are to help you tackle the unceasing challenges of life.
One of the neat tools our brain utilises are the cartoons, movies, stories & pictures we consume. Think about your favourite cartoon. What was it? Which episode or scene from that has stuck with you?
Was it because the characters expressed a powerful emotion? Love? Rage? Heroism?
Take for example, DragonballZ and how it’s story can help unlock your inner child and inspire you to tackle the big wide world ahead.
Majin You
Most people would know DragonBallZ (DBZ) a cartoon series following a race of ‘Saiyans’ that could fly, shoot energy beams and would often save the world by fighting aliens and screaming – lots and lots of screaming.
Most of the villains the Saiyans fought were memorable, meaningful and downright unhinged. One such villain was Majin Buu.
Majin Buu was a being of pure evil hell bent on planetary annihilation and inclined to stealing the souls and powers of an elder race of ‘wise men’ known as Kai’s. The main story follows the Saiyan’s on their quest to defeat Buu.
Each time they vanquish him, Buu returns stronger than ever and frankly more unhinged.
The interesting part of this story isn’t Vegeta’s epic sacrifice nor the final heroic victory, actually it has nothing to with the heroes – it’s about Buu and how his many transformations reflect our own state of mind.
Much like you and I, Majin Buu undergoes various transformations over his villainous career – each transformation is marked by the consumption (or expulsion) of the souls of the wise race of Kai’s. Let’s take a quick look at each in approximate albeit reverse order:
Stage One: Fat Buu
This is the first state of Majin Buu or affectionately known as Fat Buu. He’s powerful, yet clumsy, unable to speak cohesively, enslaved to his emotions & desires and above all subservient to a ‘higher evil’. This version of Buu has the most Kai’s inside him.
Stage Two: South(?) Buu – don’t quote me on the details, I’m remembering the entire story from memory
As the story progresses and Majin Buu is defeated, South Buu emerges. This version is stronger, more agile, and surprisingly can hold a conversation. He claps back verbally at our heroes without restraint. He has less Kai’s in him then before and is more in touch with his primal child self.
Stage Three: Kid Buu
There’s actually far more stages to Buu than listed here but let’s skip to the final stage. This version of Buu is essentially a child. He’s scrawny in size, has no capacity for speech, no critical thinking abilities beyond destruction (like the average toddler) but has powers that far outstrip his other versions. Truly unhinged and diabolical.
At each stage Buu is getting stronger but also losing his ability to reason and think/act critically. Why?
Well the answer lies in the Kai’s he has absorbed. This wise race of elders that Buu has absorbed on his quest for planetary annihilation resulted in Buu absorbing the powers but also the ‘weaknesses’ of each Kai. Meaning that after consuming all the Kai’s the ultimate result was Fat/Majin Buu. Decadent, clumsy, yet ‘wiser’ and tamer.
As each version of Buu is defeated, a Kai is expelled from his body causing him to devolve from Fat Buu -> South Buu -> Kid Buu. Each stage of de-evolution removes the power of the Kai’s but also the limiting beliefs and weaknesses they impose on Majin Buu.
Your Kai’s
Now – let’s replace the word Buu with You and let’s replace the word Kai with your parents, teachers, mentors, friends, neighbors, colleagues, society at large.
The Kai’s represent your life experiences, the influence of your friends, pressures from society, parents expectations and the demands of your partners. Each of these – and our decisions to bend to the will of others - shape us into a more tolerable and socialised Buu (or you!).
You lose your inner child, your inner voice, dreams you once pursued. You hold back things you’d like to say, conform to socially acceptable etiquettes and play the game of life at the expense of what your childhood self would like to do or be.
In a sense, there isn’t anything wrong with this, just like Buu, the positives to absorbing your Kai’s include being accepted socially, avoiding pitfalls and taking guidance from mentors and enjoying the support and company of others.
The trick is to recognise that there are Kai’s within you. The teachings, opinions and influences of others that are often well-intended but not always relevant to us as we move through the different stages of life. Too often do we allow the words of others stop us from pursing dreams, settling for less or acting in a manner that is untrue to what our inner child would want; often tragically resulting in serious life choices that turn out to be devastating missteps.
Your Inner Child
If you take a moment to imagine your inner child (your Kid Buu if you will). Chances are that you operated with clarity, decisive action and lived absolutely in the moment. Most adults yearn to return to this inner child state that had the confidence to act and follow their own path in life.
Shedding these Kai’s is the best way to reconnect with your inner child – your Kid Buu. The most powerful version of you. The trick here is to release your inner child by removing the negative and limiting beliefs others have imposed on you whilst holding onto the sagely advice and beneficial knowledge that they have imparted on you. You develop a persona that is uniquely you enhanced by others not the other way round.
Unlocking your Inner Child
Well, if my inner child is my most powerful version, how do I bring him or her out? How do I recognise what external influences are good and bad?
Be like Kid Buu – reflect on your inner child and what they dreamed of and expected life to be. Take a trip down memory lane and have an honest conversation with yourself about your direction and priorities in life.
List out the key influences/changes in your life. Who affected your decisions? Who has been encumbering you? What actually stopped you from achieving what you wanted? What influence was good for you? What/who has motivated and supported you? Hold onto the good. Release the bad.
Move forward with purpose. Take that vision of your inner child, couple it with the good influences in your life and cast out the doubts & encumbrances which you have recognised. Through this, you can retain that raw destructive power you had as a child whilst channeling it purposefully behind a respectable, constructive vision for your life.