Inner Child

What did you love before you learned it was silly?

That question tends to land harder than expected.

Inner child work is less about revisiting the past and more about noticing where a very young response is running an adult situation — the flare of shame at being corrected, the panic at being left out.

Softness toward yourself, and permission to want ordinary joyful things.

Using the past to excuse behaviour rather than understand it.

• Name one thing you loved at eight and do a small version of it.

• When a reaction feels outsized, ask how old it feels.

• Answer that reaction the way a kind adult would.

• What did I need then that no one gave me?

• What can I give myself now, in a small way?

• Where am I still asking permission?

Rose Quartz and Mangano Calcite; Rose and Chamomile; Six of Cups; the Self-Love Restoration Ritual.