This book helps you understand how to work on yourself when you didn't even know you needed to work on yourself. It's not easy, but once you read it, your eyes open to realities you weren't aware of. It's not therapy, but it helps tremendously.

I’ve been working on healing so I was familiar with inner child work before reading this book. However, I was able to learn even more facts and tips about the process after finishing the book! That was a good feeling. I liked the clear layout and examples from other people that have faced trauma and their journeys. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5 ⭐️
A great introduction to exploring your inner child traumas, full of tips, inspiring quotes, and lots of food for thought backed by studies.

❤️‍🩹 I’ve been in a healing journey for quite some time, and the more I’ve researched, the more I’ve come across how our bodies can be effected through stored up trauma and emotions. (So, you may have noticed a pattern on my GR profile in some of my self-help books lately) I’m really digging down into my inner child. 🥰

👥 I’ve learned that a key part of healing involves revisiting our past selves (various ages) without resentment or judgment, but with compassion and forgiveness of burdens, and free them from controlling our present happiness. So I was extremely excited to read this book!

👉🏼 This book and topic is great for those dealing with things like:
- Attachment issues
- Perfectionism
- Low self-esteem
- Highly reactive (emotional, defensive)
- Self sabotaging
- Negativity / Anger
- Anxiety / Depression
- Always putting others first
- Fizzled dreams and passions
- Chronic health issues (although this particular book does not address that, I can recommend one that does)

🎭 This book helps you understand how our past shapes our current behavior, identify triggers, and adopt healthier coping habits and forgiveness.

“Always remember—when you forgive someone, you’re not accepting what they did. But, you are setting yourself free.”

📝 It covers a variety of ways to tap into your inner child and start healing through: rewriting your story, writing a letter to your younger and older selves, mindfulness meditation, journaling, conscious reparenting, and mirror work.

“There is scientific evidence behind the reparenting theory that suggests its effectiveness in treating various mental health disorders like borderline personality disorder (BPD) (Darcy, 2023), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and anxiety disorders, among others (Clarke, 2022).”

“Healing isn’t about becoming someone different; it’s about letting go of the things that aren’t truly you and enabling your authentic self to emerge like a phoenix from the ashes!”

⏳ This is a book I will be referring back to, and highly recommending to friends that have been following my healing journey. I have already been practicing some of these methods, but plan to put level-up my methods and carve out more time as a priority.

Thanks to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial, and Matilda Simakaj for providing me with a complimentary ARC to review!

I received an ARC from Netgalley

Matilda Simakaj's Healing Your Inner Child offers guidance on overcoming childhood traumas and fostering self-love through diverse healing techniques. The book explores reparenting ourselves, self-evaluation, and inner peace, providing a solid introduction to self-empowerment and profound healing.

If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you'll already know that I start them all off by saying that every book I read and review starts with the full shelf-load of 5 stars and that I'm always hopeful that they will all be stuck firmly in place by the time I close the back cover. You'll also know that my usual reason for knocking off a star is copyright or trademark infringement. There's been one book that has had the fallen star rapidly replaced, thanks to a little sentence right at the back of the book... it's only happened once, but I'm more than happy to repeat it if that sentence is there again!

Let's get on with the reading and reviewing now, shall we?

This book is only 175 pages long so I should be able to get it finished and reviewed pretty quickly with any luck.

I know very little about my inner child but there is a lot in my past that she needs to heal from, so I'm hoping that this book will help me to connect with her and heal her so that I can carry on my life more whole and healed.

I've just read the first section in the first few pages and my stomach is already churning with anxiety and tears are pricking my eyes... will I be crying by the time my carer arrives for lunch?

Wow. The first two sections before chapter 1 were really powerful and started to speak to a part of me that has been hidden for decades... will this be the author that helps me to reconnect with my inner child and help her to heal?

The first chapter was equally as powerful... is the author some kind of inner child therapist as well as a survivor?

Gonna stop reading until after I've had my lunch so that I can give my stomach a chance to calm down a bit.

So my love of chocolate and spending money could be positive triggers from my inner child as opposed to what I've always assumed them to be? They provide (temporary) comfort rather than anything negative that might be rumbling around at the time? That makes sooo much sense to me now!

Bullseye. The last page of chapter 3 was exactly what I needed to read. The chocolate and spending are trigger responses 'cos I need comfort at the time and I'm worthy of love, trust and affection despite what I'm being told in my head.

Right now I'm feeling emotional, scared, in need of comfort but most importantly I'm feeling understood, so I'm gonna go and make myself a drinking chocolate and break out too many bars of chocolate too... this is a powerful book and I'm learning so much about myself and my inner child.

Nooooo!!! The author has just used brand names potentially without permission so the first star is coming off - I'm hoping beyond hope that the magic sentence is right at the back of this book 'cos it's very much a 5 star book in my eyes!

Just finished reading and I feel physically lighter and more understood now. It's one of those "shoulda been 5 stars" if it hadn't been for the use of those brands and not putting the magic little sentence at the back.

I am enough, always have been and always will be. I'm getting judgemental thoughts, but I'm just recognising and releasing them now, rather than taking them to heart.

From reading the author's words, I could feel that she was sincere and really cared about people and wanted to help.

"Once upon a time, it was my story," she said.

This book has been so enlightening and it made me feel seen. It helped me understand myself better and helped me to go easier on myself.

The author asks the question, did you find this book inspiring and helpful? My resounding answer is yes, I certainly did.

It gives a map to healing your inner child, with practical steps and exercises plus signs to look for to show progress on the journey. It gives the interesting perspective that it isn’t just abuse and neglect that can cause childhood trauma, but also loss, natural disasters or perhaps something that was witnessed.

A wise and useful guide to healing your inner child, well researched, and a useful resource in the personal growth sphere.

A very insightful and informative read. One that definitely needs to be read over and over again to be a constant reminder of how important it is to heal our inner child.