10 Practical Steps To Heal Trauma & Reconnect With Your Inner Child

10 Practical Steps to Heal from Trauma & Reconnect with Your Inner Child

1. Write Letters to Your Younger Self

Writing to your inner child is a powerful way to validate past pain and offer the love you may not have received.

• How to do it: Sit in a quiet space. Visualize yourself as a child — what age comes to mind first? Now, write them a letter from your adult self.
• What to include: Comfort, forgiveness, understanding. Let them know they were not at fault.
• Example Prompt: “Dear Little Me, I’m so sorry you had to go through that...”

2. Safe Space Visualization

Healing starts with feeling safe. A calming visual sanctuary gives your inner child a place to retreat and feel protected.

• How to do it: Close your eyes and imagine a warm, soft, safe place — a treehouse, a blanket fort, a beach at sunset.
• Journal Prompt: What does this space look like? Who’s allowed in? How does it make you feel?

3. Track Emotional Triggers

Triggers are unhealed wounds calling for your attention. Understanding them is the first step to changing how you react.

• How to do it: Keep a trigger log. Every time something upsets or overwhelms you, write:
  • What happened?
  • How did I feel in my body?
  • What memory does this remind me of?
• Purpose: It helps you break patterns and respond with compassion instead of reaction.

4. Daily Inner Child Check-Ins

Your inner child still lives within you. Daily check-ins build trust and help you meet your emotional needs.

• How to do it: Ask yourself each day: What does my inner child need today?
• Could it be rest? Play? Reassurance? A walk?
• Journal Prompt: If my inner child could talk today, what would they say?

5. Reclaim Joy Through Play

Trauma often teaches us that joy is unsafe or immature. Relearning how to play reopens joy pathways in the brain.

• How to do it: Do something childlike every week — draw with crayons, swing in the park, blow bubbles, dance in your room.
• Why it matters: It helps your inner child feel seen, free, and loved.

6. Identify Core Wounds & Rewrite Beliefs

Many of our adult struggles stem from false beliefs formed in childhood.

• How to do it: Write about a painful childhood moment. Then ask:
  • What did I believe about myself because of this?
  • Is that belief true now?
• Follow-up: Write a new, healing belief to replace the old one.
• Example: “I was ignored = I’m not important” → “I matter. I am worthy of love and attention.”

7. Mirror Affirmations

Looking yourself in the eye and speaking kind words builds deep inner safety.

• How to do it: Each morning or night, look in the mirror and say:
  • “I’m proud of you.”
  • “You are enough.”
  • “I love you and I’m staying with you.”
• Speak gently, as you would to a child who’s hurting.

8. Track & Reparent Your Reactions

Reparenting means responding to your pain with love instead of judgment.

• How to do it: When you feel triggered, pause. Ask yourself:
  • “What do I need right now?”
  • “What would a loving parent say to me?”
• Then give yourself that — maybe it’s permission to rest, cry, or simply feel.

9. Create Safe Routines That Soothe You

Consistency is key for healing. Safe routines signal to your nervous system: “We’re not in danger anymore.”

• Examples:
  • Morning tea + journaling
  • 10-min walks in nature
  • Turning your phone off for 1 hour to breathe
  • Bedtime rituals with music, candles, or stretches

10. Create a "Then vs. Now" Reflection List

Trauma makes us feel stuck in the past. This reflection helps break that loop.

• How to do it: On a page, draw two columns:
  • Then: What was true in childhood? (e.g., “No one listened to me.”)
  • Now: What is true today? (e.g., “I have a voice. I’m learning to express myself.”)
• Why it works: It empowers you to see how far you’ve come — and where healing is still needed.