What do you Need?

Find a space you feel the most comfort in, whether it’s alone or with a loved one. Lie down on your back, close your eyes, and slowly breathe in and out, four times each. Focus on memory. Take yourself as far back as your mind allows, to childhood. What do you see? Hear? Feel? Smell? Taste? Pay attention to those sensations. When processing grief, we tend to overlook ways we’ve been hurt, especially in our distant past. Allow these memories to flow freely. What do you, as this child, need? Is it love? Attention? Compassion? It can be as simple as participating in an activity you hadn’t gotten the opportunity to do as a child, or reconnecting with a book you loved. Give your past self what you know now you needed. Cradle yourself with the affection and warmth you longed for. Figure out exactly what it is your inner child needs, and when you feel ready, release yourself. Come back to the present. Upon awakening, learn to meet those needs that you hadn’t been given back then. Your inner child needs to heal for you to begin your own healing journey. Love to them is love to yourself, and your family, and your community.