Ever hear that voice whispering "not good enough" after a presentation or a date? That might be your inner child still feeling unseen and unheard. In this episode, we explore inner child work. Learn to heal hidden hurts, ditch self-sabotage, and unlock your full potential. Get ready for signs to watch, a healing visualization, and a journey to rediscover your inner spark.
Some things that we talked about in this episode:
Want some reality TV mess and see people learn how to be emotionally vulnerable? You can watch Temptation Island on Peacock.
Click here to join our mailing list, support our Patreon, or check out our merch store.
Ever hear that voice whispering "not good enough" after a presentation or a date? That might be your inner child still feeling unseen and unheard. In this episode, we explore inner child work. Learn to heal hidden hurts, ditch self-sabotage, and unlock your full potential. Get ready for signs to watch, a healing visualization, and a journey to rediscover your inner spark.
Some things that we talked about in this episode:
Want some reality TV mess and see people learn how to be emotionally vulnerable? You can watch Temptation Island on Peacock.
Click here to join our mailing list, support our Patreon, or check out our merch store.
You are now listening to Chakras and Shotguns. Welcome to Chakras and Shotguns, the podcast that guides you on a journey of spiritual development and personal preparedness. I'm Jen, a former lawyer, now tarot card reader, human design reader, yoga instructor, all the jobs still still. And I'm Mick, a marketer, Reiki master and prepper. A big part of our spiritual journey is working through old wounds and past traumas. And a big source of that can often be our childhood. So today we're going to talk about inner child work and how working through some of those old traumas and that baggage of the past can really help us to connect with little you and come out. A better version of ourselves. Make sure you listen to all the way to the end of the episode. We're going to do a special exercise to help you connect with your inner child. But before we get into that, we're going to remind you again, to join this mailing list, we keep talking about it and you need to do it. So if you want to find out about merch discounts, special events, especially if you're in the LA area, what else? We got all kind of stuff going on, all kind of stuff, newsletter, sharing helpful tips, books, all kind of things on there. You don't want to miss it. You don't get on the mailing list. It's a lot of folks on there already. So join them. You don't want to be left out. You don't want to be hanging from outside the club. All right, let's begin as we always do with a Breathwork meditation to put us into a mindful place. All right, so for today we're gonna actually stick to the true definition of breathwork and really just focus on the breath because we have more of a visualization exercise later on. Stay tuned for that. So go ahead and find a comfortable seat. You can always lie down, place your hands somewhere on your body. I like one on my belly, one on my heart, face down to ground. You can also just rest your hands. face down on your thighs or wherever you choose. Your body, your choice, my darling. Let's begin. Take a deep inhale in through your nose and then exhale that breath out through your mouth. Again, together, inhale through your nose, filling your belly, your ribs, your chest, and exhale that breath back out through your mouth. Last one, best one. Inhale through your nose. Seal your lips closed and exhale your breath back out through your nose. Let's begin the breath work. Inhale for a count of four. One, two, three, four. Hold at the top. Two, three, four. Exhale one. 1, 2, 3, 4, hold 1, 2, 3, 4, inhale 1, 2, 3, 4, hold 1, 2, 3, 4, exhale 1, 2, 3, 4, hold 1, 2, 3, 4, inhale 1, 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold 1, 2, 3, 4. Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold 1, 2, 3, 4. Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold 1, 2, 3, 4. Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold 1, Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold 1, 2, 3, 4. Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold 1, 2, 3, 4. Deep inhale together. Exhale, let something go. Start to wiggle your fingers, wiggle your toes. Take one more deep inhale together. Exhale. Let something go. Slowly start to flicker your eyes open. Welcome back. Let's get on with the show. Another dope breath work, Jen. Thanks Phil. It's called box breathing. It's pretty simple. I like it. I like it. I like it. All right, let's get into the main topic. Talking inner child work. What is it and why does everyone seem to be talking about it? So basically, you know, childhood can bring about things like joy, innocence, you know, we see it in our kids laughing and playing and everything, but there's also a lot of vulnerability in childhood, right? Like you are pretty much. A lot of ways it's defenseless, right? As a child, you, you are at the emotional whims of your caretakers, people around you, people that you interact with at school, et cetera, et cetera. And so there can be a lot of trauma or even neglect that comes with that. And it can have some pretty deep psychological impacts. And so inner child work is really about dealing with some of those psychological elements that come about from childhood. Yeah. You made an interesting point about being defenseless. This is the area that I'm really curious about, but I haven't. I've read a lot about and I want to do more reading about, but there is a whole area of study in like philosophy and discourse about children's rights, that they are this very unique group of people who don't really seem to have a lot of rights. Like they're. Like you said, like, subject to the, the whims and decisions of someone else. And so it's a very interesting area. So I was like, before I like completely derail us, as I love to do, I just wanted to put that out there that it's like something I'm actually really interested in about how we think about and how we control children. It's very fascinating to me. But back on task, inner child work, and you know, it comes up a lot. I'm sure you've heard about it on TikTok. You know, it's, it's, you know, the thing du jour, as they say. But it's actually really not that new. Yeah. We've talked about this psychologist before on the podcast, Carl Jung, J U N G. His work. both shadow work. We did an episode on that a very long time ago. And he coined the term inner child work almost a hundred years ago. Which is also like 1924, which, I mean, I don't know the exact year, but like, that's like a hundred years ago. And when I think a hundred years ago, I think 1900 and that's not accurate because time is still moving, but time is also happening all at once. So. I am 25. Yeah. Yeah. Years old, but that's neither here nor there. So yeah, the inner child, it's the part of us that really retains all of the memories and the emotions that we kind of experience in our childhood, and it really has a lot of impacts on kind of how we interact with the world as adults. And so it's really important to kind of go back and, and unpack that and, and understand what maybe happened to us that could be. Having an impact today. Yeah. Yeah. So, before we get into how the trauma that we can experience in childhood can manifest into our adult lives, we did want to reference the work of Dr. Gabor Mate, I hope I'm saying his name right. He's a doctor. He's an author. He focuses on childhood development. I find his, every time he talks, I find it to be fascinating. And, um, I stumbled across this video of his where he talked about four different areas where if you know something in that Is missing that the child is experiencing harm so Buckle up because it's a really good list So the first one is a secure attachment to the parents and the lack of that attachment is what creates the harm. And so a secure attachment looks like the child is welcomed and loved by their parents just for being their kid. That's it. They don't have to do anything. They don't have to be pretty. They don't have to be smart. They don't have to, I don't know, have a. A social media account and perform no shame, no tea. Um, but that they, that they just are like, I, you are my child. I love you. I accept you and you feel secure with them. And this even comes like, we're talking about like the newborn stage of, you know, I can trust as a newborn that my parent is going to feed me, is going to make sure that I'm. Clothed and clean and not neglected. And so that's what a secure attachment, like those are like the basic needs. But then like, as you develop and you need other needs like love and affection and, and all of these things are given to you just because you are their child. The next one is, uh, rest and it's not about going to bed or give you a baby melatonin. You know, it's not about that. It's really about rests from the emotional labor of a relationship. That it's an acknowledgement that as a child, you were not responsible for maintaining an emotional relationship with your parent. So that means. Not tiptoeing around your parent, walking on eggshells, managing their emotions. What else could it be? It's also, you know, just like, oh, I expect this from you because you're my child or those parents that kind of suck out all the air out of the room. And like the kid knows they have to kind of take a back seat because the parent needs to be in the limelight and they have to have the attention and like all of these things, like the things that, the things that annoy you about a really annoying fucking friend, but you kind of, you still love them or like kind of a toxic friend. And you're like, well, I kind of have to do this to maintain the friendship. A child shouldn't be responsible for that, which. When he said it, I was like, Oh my gosh, like that's mind blowing that to put it in such simple terms. Basically, it's like the child having to keep the peace, right? And having to like navigate these complex emotions at a very young age. They shouldn't have to do that. Cause that's causing harm. So. There are two more that Dr. Maite talks about. So the first one that I'll mention is the freedom to express their full range of emotions. I think a lot of times you will hear people try to trample or stamp down kids when they're either crying, like, I'll give you something to cry about. Heard that that's a hit that we've heard in different households, you know, I'm sure people can relate to that one. The hit before the hit. Right. Or just get over it. Yeah, stop all that crying or you're doing too much if you get too excited, right? Like that's another one They'll stamp down. You're showing out. You're showing out. Exactly. Exactly so those are some ones that like I have had some experience with and really understood when I Saw that, the enlisted by Dr. Mate. So yeah, the fourth one that he mentions It is around this idea of having access to free Unprogrammed play and preferably says in nature. So like being outside, just being outside, like, like kids don't be outside. Like we used to be outside. I used to be outside. So anyway, I think what we're seeing in today's society though, is if a parent sees their child not being quote unquote productive toward like academic goals or like, yeah. doing something that will help them to succeed in this very competitive society that we have. They see that as like a waste of time and they want to ensure that their kid is being productive the same way we put that same pressure on ourselves as adults to always be like productive in this capitalist society, right? That's something I've been noticing. It's not like universal, but I see it popping up more and more where there's like this very regimented approach to how kids are pursuing things, right? Like how their schedules go. And so I think my taste is basically saying like, give them some free time. Like give them recess. Like let them just go do some stuff and be creative cause that's otherwise going to cause harm if they don't have that access. So. That made me think of a few things. One with recess. I think they just passed a law in California that like, they can't take away kids recess. Yeah. As a punishment. Yeah. Yeah. Which. Free on program play. Great. Then a couple of thoughts with respect to Europe. So for a long time, I think Finland was, they had like the best education system for a long time. And when they would look at the Finland education system, a big part of it was like just letting the kids be outside and be like, tell me what you saw outside. And they would like roam and like do projects and it was completely like. Free. Exactly. I was like, what's the word I'm looking for? Free. I think you see an overcorrection with that. Sometimes in America, I think like now there is this movement of kids being homeschooled where like nothing is structured and they just pick and choose what they want to learn. Yeah. Which gives me a little bit of anxiety. I think we need to have moderation. I think even with that though, there's like certain guidelines you have to follow within the state, like, you know, they have to like do certain testing or whatever, right, to make sure they're not completely off. But like, I've, there are people I know who have done that with their kids and it's actually worked really well. And like the kids are like excited to learn, which is I think the point of it. Like you want to like give them the freedom to pick something that they're passionate about. And so I'm not saying it's going to work for every kid. You know, all these little baby's kids ain't ready to just To just have wholesale agency over their education, but I think it works for certain kids. Yeah, maybe if that was the only system they were in, I think there's like some foundational things. Yeah, yeah. But, whatever. You think about it with your kids, you're like, I don't know. It depends on the kid. Yeah, exactly. That's the thing. It's not one size fits all. It's not. It's not. The third point that I wanted to make was when I was pregnant with our first, I was like reading parenting books and I read this book about this American Um, woman, her, her, her and her husband were American, but he got a job in Germany and they moved to Germany. And she was talking about how the Germans raised their kids and how it was different from how Americans raise their kids. And so the book's called Octung Baby. I'll put it in the show notes. And one of the points was that at some point in like the elementary school program, they just like take away all the toys in the room for like six weeks or so for like a certain period of time. I think they give them like. Materials, but they're kind of like raw, like cardboard boxes and paper and like maybe some colors or like paint, but like actual physical toys. No. And the, the, the point of this whole exercise, this is in the public education system is for kids to. Um, imagine and be creative and come up with something new. And she talks about, she eventually moved back to the States, her, her and her family and how like the American kids would come over and they'd be like, so you don't have video games. And the kids are like, let's just go outside and like pretend to be dinosaurs. Like what's the problem? And so it's like a very interesting thing about, and Dr. Montay said this at the end of that video was that Our society, I'm assuming he meant American and maybe to a certain extent like Western European or whatever, denies our children each of those things. It's all about like, is my kid the best basketball player? Is my kid the strongest student? You know, like how do you look? How do you make me look and, and here's a screen, you know, play with that and don't cry too much and don't be too excited. Are you supporting me? And I know you're 12, but you really need to hear about my work day. And like all of these things that have been socialized, it's like the norm of how we treat our children. Yeah, that's real. I think what makes this list even worse is that it, it's almost like a training ground for how society works as adults. Yeah. Right. Like, it's like, we're pumping out a factory of these like emotionally unavailable. People like we were watching Temptation Island, right? I don't even remember when like the show actually aired. We were just kind of doing like a Binge watching it recently, but one of the things that like kept coming up, right? So if you don't know it's a temptation Island They basically take these couples who are been together for a while and they put them around other singles I split the couples up put them in houses with other singles and it's like, oh you're gonna be tempted to Get with somebody else, but you're supposed to be like kind of Hopefully it's like absence makes the heart grow fonder, but that don't really happen. Sometimes it's out of sight out of mind so anyway, the point i'm making is There are people in these relationships and they're having this experience and they're like going out on dates with these other singles and they're talking about like how They didn't ever have like these emotional conversations with their partner before and like being in this like tropical island with the single and like really being forced to like deal with their emotions and their relationship. They're like really discovering a whole different part of themselves that like they didn't know existed. And it's like, wow, you like are completely cut off from your emotions and like your everyday life. It took you being on this show to like really examine it. And I think it's just like a microcosm of what's happening. Throughout our society, right? Like we're just in a lot of ways cut off from our emotions. Yeah, and I think even if we Think of this as parents are operating with the best intentions I think to a certain extent they think that they're setting their kids up for what adulthood is but like we also to your point have a warped understanding of what Adulthood looks like of what's acceptable and what's not acceptable. What's healthy, what's healthy because it's a lot of us walking around with inner child trauma. And we're going to talk about what that looks like. Right. If you heard some of the lists of like those four freedoms and you know, you felt like you were being read down, like, damn, they like are really, how did you get here? Nobody's supposed to be here. Do I have a book for you? No. Okay, go for it. You're going there. All right. Let's talk about it. This is a book, um, that I read and it is called Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. And, uh, buckle up buttercup. And I hope you have a therapist ready to talk to you after you read this book. Because it will Read you for filth. It's actually really, really helpful and really, really insightful. But I think it, it all goes to this, like, if we're gonna make sweeping generalizations, it feels like in America, cause that's what, that's my understanding of parenthood, is that it's emotionally immature people having children and setting them up for what they think. Adulthood is going to look like, and we end up having, or end up lacking the tools to properly communicate, to properly regulate our emotions, to have boundaries, to let people in, to be vulnerable, to not overshare, like all of these things, and this is why therapy is a great field, and it's kind of like nursing. You probably won't be out of a job. So, um, I'll put that one in the show notes. It's a good one to read. It's a very easy read. Okay. I still haven't read it yet. You've told me about it. I've gotten like the pieces from it. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good one. It's a good one. But I think it's great because it can start to help you understand certain dynamics. And then like, and we say all this to say that like, Parents are working with the tools that they have. We hope that they're Trying for the best. Yeah, maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. Yeah, maybe they could have done better But they are working with the tools that they were given. Yeah Whatever that looks like, whether that's their own inner child trauma, their ancestral trauma, whatever. So let's transition a little bit. We can talk a little bit more about some of what these unfulfilled emotional needs kind of look like. Just one note though, you know, Dr. Maté in his kind of analysis, he's really focusing on like the emotional needs. Like, but we also don't want to like ignore that there can be some real like physical trauma that happens in childhood. And so we're not really touching on that. We're more so just focusing. Specifically on like, unmet emotional needs. Um, so I'm going to go into like the list of what that could look like and how it could manifest itself into adulthood. Yes, so one of them could be being a people pleaser. Constantly trying to do for others or make yourself more appealing to others. I think this one speaks to the lack of secure attachment to your parents or um, Lacking the freedom to not have to be responsible for everyone else's emotional needs. So if you find yourself, if you call yourself an empath, this is kind of like a red flag on that one. Usually empaths have had some type of childhood trauma where they had to be aware of everyone's emotions around them. Yeah. That it was how they made themselves feel safe. So. Which is also an interesting, like, you might reframe like those people who are like oblivious to other people's emotions, like maybe you were really safe emotionally at home because maybe I saw the way that half a side over there, she's pissed at me. Yeah, exactly. And now I know, I know. So maybe that's. Is it good to have that sense? Is it better to be oblivious? It means you had a good, you know, you didn't have to people please as a child. So you're oblivious. Well, you would say that as an Enneagram six, which we have not talked about the Enneagram in a long time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And people who are, uh, preppers. Yeah. There's also another P word, paranoid, not paranoid. I'm just kidding. I'm just joking. I'm just joking. But it's kind of like when you're, It's good to be aware, hypervigilance, but hypervigilance can also put you into an anxious state. Absolutely. It's a double edged sword. Exactly. That's the overall point that I'm making. It was more so a joke that like, you might want to be I know. I know. There have been times I was like, and this friend is pissed at me. And you were like, how do you know? I was like, I know. I can feel it. And then they were, and you were like, damn. And I was like, probably because I've been policing and monitoring everyone's emotions around me for a very long time. Yeah. You were right on. So you may also be desperate to be seen and accepted just for who you are. Again, speaking to that secure attachment and you may also have a hard time setting boundaries, especially if you had a parent who kind of didn't respect your agency. You might find that you never really developed that skill. And also when you're in that kind of people pleasing lane, Your boundaries go out the window. Like it doesn't really matter what you want. You're not even thinking about what you want. I'm speaking from personal experience because like the family's the most important or this friend's needs is what's the most important and I need them to like me and et cetera, et cetera. And so, Hey, like actually I'm really tired and I'd love to help you with that project, but I just can't get to it right now. It's like. A foreign concept of like, can I say that? Yeah. And then don't even get to like work. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. We talked about taking on emotional labor of others at the expense of your own. That can look like swirling on how someone's feeling about something, you know, thinking ahead for them. Well, I need to do this for them because if I don't, then they're going to feel this way and that and that. And like doing this like hopscotch chess, not in a manipulative way, but like almost like. It's almost like you're cooking multiple dishes at once. Yeah. And you're trying to, you know, make sure everything comes out at the right time, but you're not cooking none of that food for you. And you might also struggle with negative self talk. So we talk about that a lot. It's just a lot of self critique, not self critique, self criticism, doubt, harsh judgments about yourself. That may be a sign that you've internalized some negative beliefs about yourself from childhood experiences. Yeah, yeah, that, that last one. The self criticism I find to be something that I've had to like, really work through. And, it's not that I don't, I don't think my parents were critical, like, from an overt standpoint, but I know they had very high expectations, and I like, really internalized that. Like, I needed to like, make sure I was Hitting the straight A mark and like, you know, I wanted to be the best student in possible, you know, and so like that still something that like I feel and I impose on myself, I think, to some degree. So, it's interesting. That one kind of, kinda resonates a little bit with me. A couple more that could happen, you know, some things that if you're in emotional needs are not being met as a child can manifest as an adult. So you may have a hard time connecting with your emotions. I just kind of talked about that with the Temptation Island example. then there's also dislike. Like a lack of creativity or like inability to think creatively. So like someone may say, what do you like to do for fun? And like you're stumped or like, you feel like you don't have a creative bone in your body. Like maybe you just like have a lost touch with like that internal creativity. And that really comes from like that lack of the unstructured play. Right. Like when we talked about like how the Germans get to just like make up stuff, do the whole Odyssey of the Mind thing, if you know, you know, but, uh, yeah, you may not have that creativity that you can tap into. You also may sabotage yourself, right? So things like procrastination or like self doubt or like really kind of engaging in more like destructive behaviors. It could be something that pops up if you have not been able to develop emotionally in a healthy way. Yeah. So, and all of this may like bubble up if you may find it, if you're like trying to get a project done. Mm-Hmm. or reaching new goals. A lot of these like behaviors you might feel like you need to work on, might come up. They might also pop up in your relationships, your friendships, and romantic. Yeah. You might find yourself drawn to like the same types of people. I kind of felt like I had a pattern like that for a while. Yeah. Yeah. And. Recognizing it was kind of huge for me and then be like, Oh, and like, let's unpack that. And why am I drawn to these types of people? And what does that mean? And what am I looking for? Et cetera, et cetera. So that's also something to be mindful of. And also like if you're shutting down your emotions or if you're really emotionally reactive, like on the extremes are really big signs that there may be something you need to work on. So how can we start connecting with our inner child? So, of course. Seek a therapist, just in general, it's like really great to have a safe place for you to be vulnerable and share your emotions without, you know, feeling like it's going to be thrown back in your face or not heard or if not feel seen. So we're big advocates of therapy around here. If you feel like your trauma is in the territory of emotional needs not being met, but also physical needs not being met, we definitely encourage you to seek a therapist. That can help guide you in the most appropriate way. So some exercises that you could try to, you know, help you better connect with your inner child. One that I've actually done is writing letters, right? So writing a letter to yourself at different ages, you could start with like age seven. That's typically a really developmental age that people point to as one that you can kind of. Really communicate with and connect with to kind of get to some of the root of that inner child experience. And maybe you were having also finding time for play, right? That's a big one for me. I recently, so my last birthday, I'm going to tell you how old I turn, but it's in my thirties, you know what I'm saying? Late thirties. And I was trying to come up with ideas for my birthday. Like, what am I going to do for this birthday? It was not like a milestone birthday. It was just like, Oh, I'm just another year older in my late thirties. And I was like. I want to get in touch with my inner child. I want to do something that like I used to really enjoy doing as a, as a kid. And so I hit up all my homies, my frat brothers. I was like, yo. We're going to Magic Mountain. We're going to ride some, some roller coasters and several of them were like, I don't know about that, bro. I'm old. I'm too old for that. But I actually convinced them. I convinced like eight of us to roll and we had a great time. I like, I was, I was all about it. I was in the front row, hands up. Like I was. 12 again just like enjoying it. It was so much fun. Now our curmudgeon friend. did throw some shade like the other month about it He did yeah, you know, he had me on these roller coasters, but see he needs more play in his life He does he does shout out to him, you know, he is Another exercise is just more Affirmations of self love and self expression. So we actually did this. I did a Men's healing circle. I call it brotherhood on the beach, but it's been indoors For the winter and it was just this past saturday and it was focused on the heart chakra And so we actually did some self love like affirmations and exercises and like really like trying to you know Just show ourselves some love, you know, so it was really good when I saw You know that that was something that people suggest for working with inner child. It's kind of made me think about about that Exercise we did. Yeah, yeah carving out that space to do that because We're adults and we have to do things and Creating space to do those kinds of things is important. Absolutely Around Play and self expression, I saw this critique because I feel like millennials, we get it from both ends. The Gen Z, they have a lot of shade. Can't wear skinny jeans no more. Gen X, they have a lot of shade. They think we're not serious. They think we're very unserious. Boomers think we're 10 when we're damn near 40. It's very odd. Damn near 40. Some of us are in our 40s. It's very strange, but there was a trend of millennials getting into the things that they always wanted to get into when they were children. So it looks like comic book collecting, action figures, action figures, Legos, all of these like things where they're like, that's so childlike, you're like a little kid. And they're like, look. I might not be able to buy a house, but I'm going to spend my disposable income on this. I was showing you somebody the other day who had this like really extensive Lego collection. It's an athlete. I can't remember if it was a basketball player or a football player. I can't remember who it was, but he has like All these super dope Legos. Like Oh, he was famous. Yeah. Oh, I just thought he was that very large man. with all those Legos with like He had like a millennium fountain. Yeah. Oh, I thought that was just, oh, he was an athlete, professional athlete. I thought that was just another on the YouTube. Okay. Why don't we get to our ending visualization, please? I'm finding time for playing self expression. Okay. Did I, did I cut your self expression short? I'm sorry. No, I'm done. All right. Cool. So yeah, we thought we'd end the episode a little different. We're going to do a little visualization exercise to help you connect and live on your inner child. So let's get back into that mindful place, grounding yourself, hands face down somewhere on your body. Take a deep inhale in through your nose and exhale that breath back out through your nose. Again, inhale through your nose, and exhale back out through your nose. Last one together, inhale through your nose. And exhale back out through your nose. Allow yourself to breathe normally. Try to match your inhales to your exhales. Focusing on your breath. The sound of my voice. I'd like you to imagine yourself in a safe space. Whatever that looks like for you. It could be outside, it could be in your current home, it could be in your childhood home. Whatever first comes to mind, see it in your mind's eye, in the space in between your eyebrows. What are the colors that you see? How do you feel in the space? Is there a smell associated with the space? I'd like to have you invite in yourself, age 7, and invite them into the space with you. Notice their body language. Are they smiling? Are they sad? Staying in your mind's eye and that's it. It's a safe space. Imagine that your younger self is holding a gift for you. Take the gift. You can open it, you can unwrap it. Just note what's inside and offer your inner child gratitude for that gift. You can invite your inner child to share with you. Anything that they would like to share, any emotions, feelings, just allow whatever bubbles up to come up and observe that information without assigning any value to it, any judgment. What would you tell yourself at age 7 knowing what you know today? As we start to close this visualization, I would invite you to give yourself a hug. Conjure up the feeling, the physical feeling of love, of affection, of acceptance, of gratitude. And express that to your younger self. Feel free to share any affirmations. Congratulations, compliments, well wishes, to that beautiful, smaller version of you. Take a deep inhale in through your nose, and exhale that breath out of your mouth. One more inhale through your nose, and exhale that breath back out through your mouth. Start to flicker your eyes open, wiggle your fingers, your toes. I hope that was a beautiful experience, an interesting experience, maybe an informative experience. Feel free to write down any takeaways that you had from that. What was that gift? How did it make you feel? I did a similar visualization with Kira Buckley, who we've had on the show before. Shout out to Kira. It was in a longer Yoga Nidra session that she led us through. But it was really, really powerful connecting with my younger self. So I hope I could even transfer a bit of that, that goodness. That was good. I was, I was in there. I got my, got my gift. We'll talk about it later. All right. Well, that is the show folks. Friendly reminder to sign up for our mailing list. We got a whole bunch of stuff that we put in them emails. I can't even remember all of them right now, but. We'll have some affirmations, maybe. Abundance. That just means it's chock full of goodness. So make sure you're signing up for that. Yes. And finally, if you're loving the show, please subscribe. Give us five stars wherever you listen or watch. Cause remember we on the YouTube now. All right. Namaste.